Miotadorna facts for kids

Miotadorna sanctibathansi is an extinct tadornine duck from the Miocene of New Zealand. It was described from fossil material (a right humerus) collected from the Saint Bathans Fauna, in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group, found by the Manuherikia River in the Central Otago region of the South Island. The genus name reflects the view of the describers that the bird is a Miocene shelduck similar to those in the genus Tadorna. The specific epithet refers to the fossil sites’ location in the vicinity of the historic gold mining town of Saint Bathans, of which it is a latinisation.