The Huriwai Measures Formation is a geological formation in New Zealand, dating to the Late Jurassic (Tithonian).Purser, B. H. (1961). Geology of the Port Waikato region (Onewhero sheet N51). New Zealand Geological Survey bulletin 69: 1-36.
It is one of two geological formations in New Zealand where dinosaur fossils have been found, with the other being the Late Cretaceous-aged Tahora Formation.Agnolin, F.L., Ezcurra, M.D., Pais, D.F. and Salisbury, S.W. (2010). "A reappraisal of the Cretaceous non-avian dinosaur faunas from Australia and New Zealand: Evidence for their Gondwanan affinities." Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 8(2): 257-300
History Ferdinand von Hochstetter discovered the Huriwai Measures Formation during the Austrian Novara expedition to New Zealand in 1857, and he later described the formation in 1864.
Plant fossils were then identified from the formation by Purser (1961), and the first tetrapod fossil (specimen AU13802) was discovered in the formation in 1995. AU13802 was identified by Molnar, Wiffen & Hayes (1998) as a phalanx bone probably belonging to a theropod dinosaur, making it the first dinosaur fossil from the Jurassic to be discovered in New Zealand.
Description Plant fossils found in the Huriwai Measures Formation suggest that it was a forested environment.Pocknall, D. T. (1988): Huriwai plant beds. In: Pocknall, D. T.; Tremain, R. ed. Tour LB1, 7th International Palynological Conference, Brisbane, Australia, August 1988, New Zealand palynology and paleobotany. New Zealand Geological Survey record 33: 17-23. Ballance & Campbell (1993) have also suggested it to have been a braided floodplain delta because the region was subject to volcanic ash falls from a distant volcano.Ballance, P. F; Campbell, J. D. (1993): The Murihiku arc-related basin of New Zealand (Triassic-Jurassic). In: Ballance, P. F. ed. South Pacific sedimentary basins. Sedimentary basins of the world, 2. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science. Pp. 21-33.
Fossil content
Flora Plants recovered from the Huriwai Measures Formation include Cladophlebis, Equisetum, Taeniopteris, conifers, and liverworts.
Fauna +GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImageBivalviaIndeterminateBelieved to be nonmarine.MolluscaIndeterminateBelieved to be nonmarine.Theropoda?IndeterminatePort Waikato"Phalanx."The bone is stained black, and possible coprolites have also been assigned to this species. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to Compsognathidae.
See also List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations South Polar region of the Cretaceous List of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles of New Zealand
References