New Zealand Robin - Fossil Record

Fossil Record

There is molecular phylogenetic evidence to suggest that two waves of immigration by the Petroica genus from Australia. The first wave produced (P. longipes) and (P. australis), while the second produced (P. macrocephala). Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the two species on the North and South (including Stewart) Islands of New Zealand began to diverge prior to the Pleistocene era and the two remaining species are the only ones to do so after the Pleistocene glacial cycles. The 5.9% sequence divergence between the North and South species in a certain part of their mitochondrial genomes indicates a separation time of about three million years.) This is in contrast with the mere 10,000 year separation between (P. australis australis) and (P. australis rakiura) (since the last glaciation). Fossils for New Zealand robins can sometimes be found near pit fall deposits, as they do most of their feeding/foraging on the ground. The fossil record also indicates the robins’ presence throughout lowland New Zealand until drastic habitat reduction through deforestation by the Polynesians as well as the European colonizers.

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