TROPIC CLIME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 675, 29 May 1929, Page 8

TROPIC CLIME

New Zealand’s Earliest Life Forms FOSSILS ON WAIHEKE Did New Zealand at one time have a warmer climate than at present? Interesting light on this theory is shed by the discovery of fossiliferous tertiary beds near Oneroa, on the north-west coast of Waiheke Island. The discovery, made by Mr. 12. AY. Tetley, a geological student of Auckland University College in 1927, was reported to Professor J. A. Bartrum, who collaborated with Mr. A. W. B. Powell in investigations: Addressing members of the Auckland Institute last r.ening cto the molluscan fauna of Oneroa, Mr. Powell described' the newly found bed as one of the most important in the history of geology round Auckland. The Waiheke beds, which were best exposed in a small bay half a mile north-west of Oneroa Beach, contained highly varied molluscan fauna. Previously it had been almost impossible to obtain from the AVaitemata beds sufficiently well preserved fossils for determination. “Many of the species of shells obtained from the seacliffs are representative of groups not previously recorded from New Zealand, which appear subsequently to have become extinct; other species appear to be ancestral to modern New Zealand form,” he added. The beds so far had yielded 76 species, 70 of which were extinct. Forty‘-six of the total were new to science. As a whole the fauna coincided with the Hutchinsonian stage, which came to the surface and contained fossils at Pakurangi, Point Kaipara, Clifden, Southland and Otaki, and Hutchinson’s quarry, Oamaru, a typical locality'. Keen interest was manifested in the Specimens of shells found at Waiheke. Referring to the Oniseidia, Mr. Powell remarked that it was peculiar to the South. Seas, living members being found only in Japan, the Gulf of California and the AA'est Indies. “The occurrence of a species in New Zealand,” he added, “suggests that the Dominion once had a warmer climate than at present.” He displayed a cockle fully 6in across, which, he stated, had no living descendants in New Zealand waters, and indicated bv comparison how elosely the shell resembled 'the Californian species, . : v Another interesting exhibit was a massive curved edged oyster fully eight inches in breadth-, which, the ppeaker remarked, was topical of the tertiary period.