| Miotadorna | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Subfamily: | Tadorninae |
| Genus: | †Miotadorna Worthyet al., 2007 |
| Type species | |
| †Miotadorna sanctibathansi Worthyet al., 2007 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Miotadorna is a genus ofextincttadornineducks from theMiocene of New Zealand. It contains two species,M. sanctibathansi, andM. catrionae (Catriona's shelduck).
M. sanctibathansi wasdescribed from afossilised righthumerus collected from theSaint Bathans Fauna, in the lower Bannockburn Formation of theManuherikia Group, found by theManuherikia River in theCentral Otago region of theSouth Island. The genus name reflects the view of the describers that the bird is a Miocene shelduck similar to those in the genusTadorna. The specificepithet refers to the fossil sites’ location in the vicinity of the historic gold mining town ofSaint Bathans, of which it is alatinisation.[3]
M. catrionae, described and named in 2022, is the largest duck species so far discovered in the St Bathans fossil deposits. Both the species name,catrionae, and the common name, Catriona's shelduck, honour co-author Nicholas J. Rawlence's late mother Catriona Drummond. The holotype specimen is a large right humerus. It is noted as being very similar toM. sanctibathansi, but its large size and differing proportions distinguish it from that species. This size difference may represent sexual dimorphism, although the morphological changes are not sufficiently explained by this.[2]Worthyet al., (2022) consideredM. catrionae to be asynonym ofM. sanctibathansi, as they believed it was more likely that the larger specimen represented a larger sex.[1]
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