Scientists have discovered one of the world's oldest bird species in North Canterbury.
"Bony-toothed birds" or Pelagornithids, are an ancient family of huge seafaring birds that were thought to have evolved in the Northern Hemisphere.
But that theory's been upended, with the discovery of a fossil of the family's oldest, but smallest member in the North Canterbury town of Waipara.
It's 62-million years old, and identified by the same team who recently discovered a giant penguin fossil from the same site.
Fossil preparator Al Mannering got the bony-toothed bird's bones ready for study, and the bones were analysed by Canterbury Museum curators Dr Paul Scofield and Dr Vanesa De Pietri, and Dr Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
The team published a paper on Wednesday about the discovery in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
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Dr Schofield said the age of the fossilised bones suggest the birds evolved in the Southern Hemisphere.
"While the bird was relatively small, the impact of its discovery is hugely significant in our understanding of this family."
The last species of the bird died about 2.5 million years ago, just before modern humans evolved.
Newshub.
