''Araucaria haastii'' is an extinct species of conifer tree formerly native to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. A large number of fossilised tree specimens from the family

Araucariaceae Araucariaceae – also known as araucarians – is an extremely ancient family of coniferous trees. The family achieved its maximum diversity during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and the early Cenozoic, when it was distributed almost worldw ...

have been found in New Zealand, but in many cases the level of preservation is not sufficient to reliably distinguish between '' Araucaria'' species (related to extant modern trees such as the Norfolk pine) and '' Agathis'' species (related to New Zealand's iconic

Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

tree). ''Araucaria haastii'' is known from some of the better preserved fossils, found in

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

sediments from several sites in the South Island. These fossils show sufficiently detailed morphology and cuticular structure in the leaves to allow this species not only to be definitively identified as an ''Araucaria'', but also to place it within the ''Intermedia'' section of this genus, meaning that its closest living relative is the Klinki pine found in the mountains of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. North Island fossil specimens from the same time period appear to be from a closely related but slightly distinct species of ''Araucaria'', though the relatively poorer quality of the fossils means that the identification is not so precise. Related species of tree are also known from fossils found in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, reflecting the broad Gondwanan distribution of the family Araucariaceae.Pole M. The record of Araucariaceae macrofossils in New Zealand. ''Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology'' 2008; 32(4): 405-426. doi: 10.1080/03115510802417935

References

haastii Cretaceous plants Extinct plants of New Zealand Plants described in 1887 Mesozoic trees {{cretaceous-plant-stub

See also

References