^'"I" ^'^'J Hai.l, The Tasmanian and New Zealand Groups. 27^ 



The Tasmanian and New Zealand Groups. 

 By Robert Hall, C.M.B.O.U., Past President R.A.O.U. 

 Tf these arc outliers of tlie Australian Region, tliey liavc very 

 different zoological values, due to the youth of one and long isolation 

 of the other. Additional to this we find Tasmania had the share 

 of carnivorous animals that might have fallen to the lot of New 

 Zealand. Protection from the Tasmanian devil {Sarcophihis), 

 the Tasmanian wolf {Thylaciniis), and smaller native cats (Dasviires) 

 saved New Zealand's flightless Kiwis (Apteryges). 



Before our Emus existed the Permian amphibians played al)Out 

 on the sands of our present Hobart quarries. From these the 

 lizard hnks of such as ArcJuvopteryx grew up, then the tooth-billed 

 Diver {Hesperoriiis), followed by descendants of which in Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand gave us the Apteryx, now a fossil in 

 Australia (Map A, 5, page 286). 



The comparison of the two groups — Tasmania, King Island 

 and Furneaux Group and New Zealand, with her sul)-Antarctic 

 islands (Plate I., figs. a~h) — helps to show how old and liow young 

 two faunas can be within the same latitude of roaring forties. 

 A very ancient deep sea divides them, and where it shallows in the 

 Older Pliocene (Maps B, C, a~h) is where faunas of both come 

 from a common stock. They then divided — one to go to New 

 Zealand and the other to Tasmania through Eastern Australia. 

 On the journey from Cape York to Cape Pillar many fell out by 

 the way, adjusting themselves to the varying types of vegetation.- 

 Tasmania and Cape York Peninsula were one connected land, 

 with many birds at the northern end, getting less and less in 

 species and numbers as they got south. Finally arriving in Tas- 

 mania, they were few in number, with a remarkably small number 

 of characteristic animals for an area that eventually became 

 isolated. There are no Bush-Larks (Mirafra), Bee-eaters {M crops), 

 or Orioles, no Drongos, Grass- Wrens (Aniytis), or Babblers 

 {Poinatorhiniis), and a host of others (Plate I., a, c). It is the end 

 of the AustraUan southern trek in birds. Tasmania is still in 

 the likeness of the mainland, which previously liad its bird fauna 

 concentrated, for the most part, in Cape York Peninsula, from 

 about where New Zealand drew away the great part of its avifauna ; 

 one common stock of all Australia and Tasmania on the one side 

 and Polynesia with New Zealand on another. New Zealand, 

 through long ages and isolation, has kept her ancient types 

 {Apteryges). New Zealand drew most of its bird-life from the 

 Papuan sub-region via New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, and Lord 

 Howe Island (Map C, d, e, /), just as Tasmania drew its birds 

 through the Bass Strait islands, all remnants of connecting lands. 

 In each case tliese latter made their peculiar birds. The closest 

 connections of one of them — the Kagu (d) — is with Mesiles of 

 Madagascar and the Sun-Bittern of South America ratlier than 

 with Papua or New Zealand. 



New Zealand lias more Hightless biixls than an\' other region 



