Glossary

A small, fleshy fin between the dorsal fin and the tail.

Sockets in the mandible and maxilla (i.e. jaw bones) where teeth are set.

A group of vertebrate animals that hatch from a complex egg with extra-embryonic membranes and an outer shell (e.g. reptiles), or are the descendants of an animal that hatched out of such an egg (e.g. mammals).

A group of reptiles that have no openings in the sides of their skull posterior to the orbit. Contrast with Diapsida. Turtles are the only living anapsids.

An environment that lacks oxygen.

The antirostrum of an otolith is a beak-like projection that is on the opposite side of an excisura to the rostrum. Typically smaller than the rostrum.

An animal that hunts other animals for food and which holds a position in a food web where it has no natural predators.

A family of conifer trees. A living example of an araucarian is kauri, Agathis australis.

Ancient close relatives of living whale and dolphin species. In taxonomic terms, 'archaeocetes' are all species within Cetacea that are not within Neoceti.

Body structures like bones or shells are positioned as they would have been in life.

Also called an 'ear', auricles are the often rounded structures along the edge that forms the hinge in each valve (shell).

A family of cetaceans with four living species including the southern right whale Eubalaena australis.

A family of cetaceans with nine living species including the blue whale Balaenoptera musculus.

Cartilage plates suspended from the upper jaw in the mouth of mysticete whales. Used to strain prey from sea water.

Poorly bedded, light green to brown siltstones and mudstones.

Relating to the bottom of a body of water.

A body plan where an organism has a left side and a right side that are generally mirror images of one another.

Vision using two eyes with overlapping fields of view, allowing good perception of depth.

The variety of life.

The geographic distribution of species.

Disturbance of sedimentary deposits by living organisms.

Where the nostrils open on the top of the head, enabling the animal to breathe.

A bounding box for a 3D object is the smallest rectangular box that surrounds an object in 3D space.

Composed of calcium carbonate.

538.8 to 486.85 million years ago.

A sedimentary basin on the South Island of New Zealand.

Outer shell.

Shell on the upper (i.e. dorsal) surface.

Firm, flexible connective tissue found. One of two major components in the skeleton of all vertebrates (with the other being a calcium phosphate mineral).

Calcareous, medium-grained sandstone with local variation.

The head of a trilobite.

A group of marine mammals with around 90 living species across two key clades, Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales, including dolphins and porpoises). The fossils of many extinct species of cetacean have been discovered.

An enclosed space.

An order of birds with more than 390 living species. Includes seabirds and shorebirds.

Pincer-like claws at the anterior limbs of an arthropod, like a crab or lobster. Used for defence and to gather food.

A tough polymer made of sugar molecules by insects and other organisms. Like a 'biological plastic'.

A protein that is important for the structure of connective tissues. A key component of cartilage.

A collective form of life where many individual organisms live in close association with one another.

Sedimentary rock cemented into a solid structure through the gradual precipitation of minerals into the pore spaces between sedimentary grains.

The outer edge of the continental crust where it meets oceanic crust.

The extended margin of a continent which is submerged under relatively shallow seas. While the width of the shelf varies between continents, most shelf seas are generally less than 100 metres deep.

The slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor.

Fossilised faeces.

145 to 66 million years ago.

The general term for the group of reptiles that includes all living species of crocodile, alligator, caiman and gharial. Crocodilians are also all of the extinct species that are more closely related to living crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials than they are to any other group.

The process by which organic structures like animal bodies or tree trunks are broken down into simpler organic matter.

The arrangement, types and shape of teeth.

419.6 to 358.9 million years ago.

An animal that migrates between freshwater and seawater during different stages of their life cycle. Special cases include anadromous fish, which spend most of their life in freshwater but migrate to the sea, and catadromous fish, which migrate from the ocean to freshwater.

A group of animals that have two openings in each side of their skull, posterior to the opening for the eye (orbit). Examples of diapsids include lizards, crocodiles, birds and other dinosaurs.

A group of algae where many species in that group have a cell wall made of hydrated silicon dioxide (silica) which forms a shell called a frustule.

Sedimentary rock composed of the frustules (shells) of diatoms, a type of algae.

See: Discworld - Sir Terry Pratchett.

A smaller species within Cetacea, and one that has teeth. The precise taxonomic definition for dolphin is any species within Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, Pontoporiidae and Lipotidae. However, dolphin is also used for close extinct relatives of living dolphins that are not included in these families.

27.3 to 25.2 million years ago.

56.0 to 48.07 million years ago. The late Eocene is more formally known as the international Ypresian Stage.

23.03 million to 15.97 million years ago. The Early Miocene is a sub-epoch that spans the international Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages.

The use of sound to determine the location of objects.

The role or position of an organism in an ecosystem, including the interactions that organism has with other organisms.

Organisms that rely on external sources of heat to regulate their body temperature, also known as cold-blooded.

A mass extinction event that occurred around 66 million years ago. An asteroid impact is generally considered to have been the cause.

Species that are native to and found only within a specific geographic area.

56 to 33.9 million years ago.

A unit of geological time that is smaller than a period and larger than a stage. An epoch usually spans several million years.

A family of cetaceans with a single living species, the gray whale Eschrichtius robustus.

An advanced level of social organisation.

The degree of relatedness between species.

The excisura of an otolith is a deep groove or notch.

Structural support that is on the exterior surface of an animal.

The animals of a particular geographic region (e.g. the fauna of New Zealand), environment (e.g. the marine fauna) or geological period (e.g. the Oligocene fauna).

A bone in the hindlimb of a vertebrate (i.e. back leg) that connects with the pelvis. Commonly known as the thigh bone.

The connection of all food chains in an ecosystem. A food web represents which organisms consume which other organisms in an ecological community.

A muscular organ that is part of the body plan of all molluscs. Used in different species for locomotion, grasping or digging.

The hole in the umbo that the pedicle passes through.

Evidence of life from a past geological age. Remains like bones, shells or wood, or an impression like a footprint, or some other evidence of life, from something that was alive more than 11,700 years ago.

An impression of part of an organism preserved in sediment.

A collection of fossils that document the history of life. Reference might be made to the history of life in a particular place ('the fossil record of New Zealand'), or the history of a particular group of organisms ('the fossil record of penguins'), or simply the global history of all life ('the fossil record').

A former crater lake with abundant diatoms, and now a fossil site known for diatomite and famous for high-quality fossil preservation. Located near Middlemarch in Otago, New Zealand. See: Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar.

The taxonomic rank that groups together closely related species. The genus forms the first part of the binomial species name.

See: GNS Science Te Pū Ao: New Zealand's geological timescale (includes link to download NZ Geological Timescale poster)

And: GNS Science Te Pū Ao: The 100-million-year evolution of our continent

See: Cambrian
Also: New Zealand geologic time scale

Scientists who study the Earth, including its composition, structure, processes, and history. Paleontologists are a type of geoscientist.

A hydrated iron-rich silicate mineral made up of potassium, iron, aluminum, magnesium, silicon, and oxygen. Generally appears green and is most often found in marine sediments.

A geographic region with a higher-than-usual level of species diversity.

An ancient landmass that existed from the late Precambrian to the Jurassic, which upon fragmenting gave rise to Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India, Madagascar, South America, and Zealandia.

Gordon, D.P. (ed.) (2009). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lopotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Christchurch, New Zealand, Canterbury University Press. 648 p.

Gordon, D.P. (ed.) (2010). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume Two: Kingdom Animalia: Chaetognatha, Ecdysozoa, Ichnofossils. Christchurch, New Zealand, Canterbury University Press. 528 p.

Gordon, D.P. (ed.) (2012). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume Three: Kingdoms Bacteria, Protozoa, Chromista, Plantae, Fungi. Christchurch, New Zealand, Canterbury University Press, 616 p.

Gould, SJ. 1983. Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History. ‎ New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Page 363: "...Some of our most common and comforting groups no longer exist if classifications must be based on cladograms. With apologies to Mr. Walton and to so many coastal compatriots in New England, I regret to report that there is surely no such thing as a fish. About 20,000 species of vertebrates have scales and fins and live in water, but they do not form a coherent cladistic group. Some—the lungfishes and the coelacanth in particular—are genealogically close to the creatures that crawled out on land to become amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals..."

A marine sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized quartz and an abundance of the green mineral glauconite.

An inland location within southernmost Canterbury, New Zealand, where significant fossil discoveries have been made.

83.6 to 66.0 million years ago.

The dorsal edge of the shell of a bivalve mollusc where the two valves (two shells) articulate.

The hingeline is the axis that the two shells open along. Brachiopods have teeth on one valve and sockets on the other.

A range of hills that rise to 600 metres above the surrounding Southland Plains. Part of the Southland Syncline geological fold system.

11,700 years ago to present.

The individual specimen from which a species is named.

The bone in the forelimb of a vertebrate (i.e. wing, arm, flipper) that connects with the shoulder.

Hyden FM. 1979. Mid-Tertiary temperate shelf bioclastic limestones, Southland, New Zealand. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Otago.

http://download.otagogeology.org.nz/temp/Abstracts/1979Hyden_FM.pdf

A proposed explanation which can be tested and proven false.

Any animal that is not a vertebrate (i.e. does not have a backbone). Examples include sponges, molluscs and echinoderms.

An order of crustaceans. There are over 10,000 species of isopod worldwide with around 5,000 terrestrial species, 4,500 species in marine environments, and 500 fresh water species.

201.4 to 143.1 million years ago.

Massive, indurated, dark grey sandy siltstone.

A protein that provides structural support to many epidermal tissues including hair and nails of mammals, feathers of birds, scales of reptiles.

Green-grey, calcareous, glauconitic, quartz sandstone.

A sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil preservation, often including soft tissues.

100.5 to 66 million years ago. The final epoch of the Cretaceous Period.

37.71 to 33.90 million years ago. The late Eocene is more formally known as the international Priabonian Stage.

Approximately 27 to 23.03 million years ago. The late Oligocene is not a formally defined segment of geological time, but instead refers to the final three or four million years of the Oligocene Epoch.

237.0 to 201.4 million years ago. The Late Triassic is the final epoch of the Triassic Period.

Points on either side of the primary cusp of a tooth that are small compared to the primary cusp.

Plant tissues have have become rigid due to the accumulation of the organic polymer lignin. Wood is an example of a lignified tissue.

A sedimentary rock composed mainly of calcium carbonate. Can be formed from the skeletal fragments of marine organisms.

The lophophore of brachiopods is their breathing and food filtering/gathering organ.

Mesozoic marine sedimentary rocks  found in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in western Europe.

A type of large, fast-swimming shark belonging to the order Lamniformes. Living examples include great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus).

A mammal that is dependent on offshore marine environments for finding food.

A muddy sedimentary rock with abundant calcium carbonate.

An extinct family of large turtles that were probably terrestrial herbivores. Known from South America and Australasia.

See: World Class Clean Lab opens at Otago

251.9 to 66 million years ago. The Mesozoic Era is the section of geological history spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

506.5 to 497 million years ago. The middle Cambrian is the international Miaolingian stage.

48.07 to 37.71 million years ago. The middle Eocene spans the international Lutetian and Bartonian stages.

15.97 million to 11.04 million years ago. The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch that spans the international Langhian and Serravallian stages.

Connective tissues with a high proportion of accumulated minerals, generally a calcium phosphate mineral (bone) or a calcium carbonate mineral (shell). Mineralised tissues including bones and teeth are harder and more durable than cartilage-only skeletal tissues.

23.03 to 5.33 million years ago.

The process of shedding an exoskeleton in order to grow. Also known as ecdysis.

Marine mammals within Cetacea that have large keratin plates (baleen) for filtering food from water. One of two major clades within Neoceti, with the other being Odontoceti. Living examples include blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and southern right whale (Eubalaena australis).

Iridescent material constructed from calcium carbonate and organic material.

A pearly appearance with iridescence.

All living species within Cetacea and the descendants of their most recent shared ancestor, including extinct species.

All dinosaurs except birds. Examples include Deinonychus antirrhopus and Tyrannosaurus rex.

The surface of a tooth or tooth plate that comes into contact with another tooth or tooth plate when the jaw is closed.

Marine mammals within Cetacea that have teeth. One of two major clades within Neoceti, with the other being Mysticeti. Living examples include sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) and Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori).

33.9 to 23.03 million years ago.

Openings in the skull for the eyes.

486.85 to 443.1 Ma million years ago.

Coarse-grained, sandy limestone.

Sometimes called 'earbones', but more correctly termed 'ear stones', these are accumulations of calcium carbonate minerals in the base of the skull of many vertebrates that help to provide a sense of movement and maintain balance.

Well-sorted bryozoan limestone.

66 to 56 million years ago.

Thin bone in the lower jaw near the jaw hinge that helps transmit sound to the ear.

The pair of fins located on either side of the body near the gills.

The stalk that attaches a brachiopod to the substrate.

A muscular stalk.

Shaped like a pentagon.

Jointed walking legs that are also used in food-gathering.

298.9 to 251.9 million years ago.

An order of seabirds with three living species in a single family (Phaethontidae).

Composed of calcium phosphate.

A level of the classification system used to organise life that is below kingdom and above class. Organisms in one phylum generally have a very different body to organisms in another phylum within the same kingdom.

Relating to the part of a body of water that is not along the bottom.

Protective coverings made of plaster used to encase and transport fossils.

Shell on the lower (i.e. ventral) surface.

2.58 to 0.0117 million years ago.

5.33 to 2.58 million years ago.

4.6 billion years ago to around 538.8 million years ago.

Tall central point of a tooth.

An order of seabirds with more than 140 living species across the four families Diomedeidae (albatrosses), Procellariidae (petrels and shearwater), Hydrobatidae (northern storm petrels) and Oceanitidae (southern storm petrels).

Front teeth that point out from the mouth instead of into the jaw.

Small opening (the plural is punctae).

Bumpy.

An iron sulphide mineral, FeS2. Commonly known as "Fool's gold".

A group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand, known for their rich marine biodiversity.

Richardson JR. 1981. Distribution and orientation of six articulate brachiopod species from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 8:189–196. doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1981.10427961

A marine ecosystem that's found in the intertidal zone, where the ocean meets the land.

The rostrum of an otolith is a beak-like projection that is on the opposite side of an excisura to the antirostrum. Typically larger than the antirostrum.

The region of a skull that holds the teeth, palate, and nasal cavity. Can be elongated into beak or bill.

See: Tour of the RV Polaris II (YouTube)

Small, rigid plates that grow out of an animal's skin to provide protection from the non-living environment and from other organisms. The scales of reptiles are constructed from keratin, but are a mineralised tissue in fish.

Bones in the shoulders where muscles from the forelimb are attached. More commonly known as shoulder blade.

A bird that is dependent on offshore marine environments for finding food.

A layer of sedimentary rock with distinct characteristics.

A surface that is permeable to some substances but not others.

Wall that divides a cavity into smaller cavities. Septa is the plural of septa.

A sedimentary rock composed mainly of silt-sized particles (0.002 to 0.063 mm diameter).

A sedimentary rock that is mostly made up of fine sand (0.02 - 0.20 mm diameter grains) but which also includes an appreciable amount of silt (0.002 to 0.063 mm diameter grains).

443.1 to 419.6 million years ago.

A calcareous tube running through all of the chambers in the shell of an ammonoid or a nautiloid. Allows fluid to be pumped between chambers to adjust buoyancy.

One or more populations of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring. In paleontology, a species is often considered a lineage of organisms that maintains its identity over time and space.

Penguins. An order of seabirds with around 20 living species in a single family (Spheniscidae). Many more extinct species of penguin are known compared with the number of living species.

The internal loop of Rastelligera was in the form of two tight spirals.

Cartilaginous fish known for their flattened bodies and long, thin tails. Stingrays are all animals within order Myliobatiformes.

An order of seabirds with more than 55 living species across the four families Fregatidae (frigatebirds), Sulidae (gannets and boobies), Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants and shags) and Anhingidae (anhingas).

Feeding by capturing and ingesting food particles that are suspended in water.

Sutherland JI. 2003. Miocene petrified wood and associated borings and termite faecal pellets from Hukatere Peninsula, Kaipara Harbour, North Auckland, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 33:395–414. doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2003.9517736

A join between structures. Examples of sutures include the join between a septum and the shell wall in a nautiloid, or between two bones in a vertebrate.

Te reo Māori term originating with Kāi Tahu meaning treasured. The term taonga in te reo Māori is also used for treasured.

Bone in the hindlimb of a bird. Forms part of the foot. This bone is a fusion of the tarsal and metatarsal elements that would be found as separate bones in some other reptiles or in mammals.

The body of water between Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Grouping organisms into categories based on shared characteristics gained through inheritance.

Regions of Earth between the tropics and the polar regions (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° north and south of the equator) where the temperatures are mild.

Opening in the skull behind the orbit. A site of muscle attachment.

An ancient precursor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.

A common method of preparing a very thin slice of a rock or fossil for examination under a microscope.

Bone in the lower leg of a bird. This bone is a fusion of the tibia and elements of the tarsal bones that would be found as separate bones in some other reptiles or in mammals.

Also known as the Hauraki Gulf, a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand.

A fossil that is particularly useful for identifying and understanding the characteristics of a specific geological period or environment.

Evidence of an organism from a past geological age but not the preserved remains of the organism itself.

251.9 to 201.4 million years ago.

Regions of Earth that surround the equator (approximately 23.5° north to 23.5° south) where there are high temperatures and abundant rainfall.

See: Tūhura Otago Museum, Southern Land, Southern People.

The specimen on which the description and name of a new species is based.

See: Otago Micro And Nanoscale Imaging

A bone in the forelimb of a vertebrate (i.e. wing, arm, flipper) that connects with the humerus to form the 'forearm'.

Geographical areas with geology of outstanding societal value, which are community owned and open to everyone. See: UNESCO Global Geoparks Programme.

See: UNESCO Waitaki Whitestone Global Geopark.

Technical term for each articulating shell part. For example, the shells of bivalve molluscs and brachiopods are each made up of two valves.

Part of the UNESCO Waitaki Whitestone Geopark. See: Vanished World Centre.

The surface facing the 'floor'. For example, in a shark this is the opposite surface from the one with the large dorsal fin.

The series of bones forming the flexible 'backbone' structure of the animals named for possessing these bones, the vertebrates.

Animals that have bony tissues (e.g. vertebrae, teeth) and are quadroblastic (i.e. four germ-layers: endoderm, mesoderm, ectoderm and neural crest tissue).

A structure that has lost its original function through evolutionary time.

Massive, glauconitic, dark grey to green silty fine sandstone.

North of Christchurch in the Canterbury district of New Zealand. Notable for the scenic Waipara Valley which has produced internationally-important vertebrate fossils.

Any species within Cetacea, however, generally reserved for larger species.

One rotation (i.e. an individual circle) in a spiral or concentric pattern. For example, the coiled shell of an ammonite can be constructed from multiple whorls.

The mostly submerged continent of which New Zealand and New Caledonia are a part.