Jennifer P. Worthy's research while affiliated with Flinders University and other places

... It is not yet known how the macula acustica would connect to the sulcus below a crystalline bridge or whether the macula would have a gap over the bridge. A somewhat similar feature was observed occasionally in otoliths of Galaxias from the Miocene of New Zealand, where crystalline matter extended over the sulcus from its ventral margin leaving only a very narrow and steeply inclined open access for the macula acustica (Schwarzhans et al., , 2023, but in this case the feature was explained to represent a teratologic deformation. ...

... Interestingly, the rhynchocephalians were taxonomically and ecologically diverse and cosmopolitan during most of the Mesozoic (Evans, 1988;Evans et al., 2001;Heckert et al., 2008;Jones et al., 2009;Kligman et al., 2021). These became nearly extinct during the early Cretaceous in Laurasia, and were replaced by the diversifying squamates (Carroll, 1988). ...

... The abundant avifauna is dominated by waterfowl (Anseriformes), with a minimum of eight taxa in five genera (Worthy et al. 2007(Worthy et al. , 2008. The avifauna also includes such diverse taxa as moas (Dinornithiformes), a kiwi (Apterygidae), a tubenose (Procellariiformes), birds of prey (Accipitriformes), rails (Rallidae), an endemic gruiform (Aptornithidae), a gull and other waders (Charadriiformes), herons (Ardeidae), a palaelodid (Phoenicopteriformes), pigeons (Columbidae), parrots (Psittaciformes), a swiftlet (Apodidae), an owlet-nightjar (Aegothelidae), and passerines (Passeriformes) (De Pietri et al. 2016a, 2016bWorthy et al. 2007Worthy et al. , 2009aWorthy et al. , 2009bWorthy et al. , 2010aWorthy et al. , 2010bWorthy et al. , 2011aWorthy et al. , 2011bWorthy et al. , 2011cWorthy et al. , 2013aWorthy et al. , 2013bWorthy et al. , 2013cScofield et al. 2010). Fish, frogs, reptiles and mammals are also represented (Worthy et al. 2006(Worthy et al. , 2011d(Worthy et al. , 2013dJones et al. 2009;Lee et al. 2009;Schwarzhans et al. 2012;Hand et al. 2013Hand et al. , 2015. ...

... The sixth noctilionoid family, Mystacinidae, the basalmost member of the group in most phylogenies (Teeling et al. 2005;Meredith et al. 2011;Rojas et al. 2016), is the only extant noctilionoid family that occurs outside of the Western Hemisphere, with two species of Mystacina endemic to the modern fauna of New Zealand (Simmons 2005;Simmons and Cirranello 2023). There is also a Miocene mystacinid from New Zealand, and late Oligocene and Miocene mystacinids are known from Australia (Hand et al. 1998(Hand et al. , 2005(Hand et al. , 2015b. A seventh family, Myzopodidae, currently endemic to Madagascar, with late Eocene, early Oligocene, and early Pleistocene species from Africa (Gunnell et al. 2014(Gunnell et al. , 2015, also has been regarded as a basal member of the Noctilionoidea (Teeling et al. 2005(Teeling et al. , 2012Gunnell et al. 2014). ...

... The assemblage of about 16,500 otoliths from the early Miocene Manuherikia palaeo-lake of Otago, New Zealand, ranks as the richest and most diverse fossil freshwater otolith association known globally thus far. The fish otoliths from the Manuherikia palaeolake were first described by Schwarzhans et al. (2012). Fifteen species of fishes were then recognised based on otoliths including one by skeletal remains with otoliths in situ, pertaining to the families Galaxiidae (six species), Prototroctidae (two species) and Eleotridae (four species) and three representing marine fishes. ...

... Similarly, the microstructure of kiwi eggshell (see also Vieco-Galvez et al., 2021) would be autapomorphic considering the rhea-style microstructure of its sister clade elephant bird (Mitchell et al., 2014). Considering that ancestral kiwi might have been a volant clade (Worthy et al., 2013), the disproportionally large size of egg and peculiar microstructure of kiwi might have appeared when the cladogenesis of (flightless and extremely precocial) Apterygidae took place (Worthy et al., 2013). ...

... A procoelous vertebra formerly considered to be from a probable neobatrachian (e.g. Worthy et al. 2011c) is now recognized as probably a juvenile first sacral vertebra of a skink. These data do not support the hypothesis of total inundation of Zealandia during the late Oligocene (Campbell & Hutching 2007;Landis et al. 2008), which would require all fauna in Recent New Zealand to have arrived by dispersal since that time (e.g. ...

... The site is dated to 386], and has provided a rare glimpse at New Zealand's Neogene fauna just after the drowning of New Zealand. The earliest known kiwi, Proapteryx micromeros, was described on the basis of a right femur missing its distal condyles [387]. The only referred specimen is also fragmentary, consisting of a left quadrate missing the orbital process anterior to the pterygoid condyle and much of the lateral mandibular condyle [387]. ...

... Mart ınez-V ılalta and Motis (2017) recognized four subclades of Ardeidae: Botaurinae (bitterns: Zebrilus, Ixobrychus, Botaurus), Tigrisomatinae (tiger-herons: Tigrisoma, Zonerodius, Tigriornis), Nycticoracinae (night-herons: Nycticorax, Nyctanassa, Gorsachius, Cochlearius) and Ardeinae (day-herons: Syrigma, Pilherodius, Ardea, Egretta, Bubulcus, Ardeola, Butorides, Agamia). The exact composition of these clades and their interrelationships are not well understood and some conflict exists among different phylogenetic analyses (Payne & Risley 1976, McCracken & Sheldon 1998, Worthy et al. 2013, Huang et al. 2016; see also Discussion). ...

... The St Bathans Fauna is diverse with numerous faunal components unknown in the Late Pleistocene-Holocene fauna. There is evidence for at least two terrestrial non-volant mammals and several bats -four mystacinids (Mystacina, Vulcanops) and some undescribed taxa (Worthy et al., 2006Hand et al., 2013Hand et al., , 2015Hand et al., , 2018. There were terrestrial turtles (Worthy et al., 2011) and crocodilians (Molnar and Pole, 1997;Salisbury et al., 2017) living with other herpetofaunal taxa including leiopelmatid frogs and species of the rhynchocephalian genus Sphenodon, relictual groups that still exist in New Zealand today (Jones et al., 2009;Worthy et al., 2013) along with skinks and geckoes (Lee et al., 2009a(Lee et al., , 2009b. ...