The newly-identified types occupied New Zealand– far from its most likely close family members in Australia and New Guinea– throughout the Miocene date, in between 19 and 14 million years back.

“This discovery offers a fantastic and special insight into the biological history of Aotearoa birds,” stated Dr. Nic Rawlence, Director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory.

“To many individuals worldwide, bowerbirds were made popular by Sir David Attenborough’s nature documentaries and their intricate courtship habits, where males build an arched structure called a bower, embellished with sticks and in some cases vibrantly colored things like fruit, leaves and even pieces of plastic, all in an effort to bring in a mate.”

Called Aeviperditus gracilisor the St Bathans bowerbird, the brand-new bird was much smaller sized than living bowerbird types.

“It is smaller sized than living and extinct bowerbirds, weighing in at 33 g, compared to 96-265 g for other types,” Dr. Rawlence stated.

“Its foot bone is most comparable to opportunity bower contractors that consist of the brightly-colored flame bowerbird and the satin bowerbird.”

“If this bird is certainly a relative of the bowerbirds, it might represent a completely brand-new songbird household for Aotearoa,”stated Dr. Elizabeth Steell, a scientist at the University of Cambridge.

“That’s particularly substantial provided the minimal understanding we have of the ancient songbird fossil record in this area.”

“The St Bathans bowerbird is the most recent songbird family tree to have a long evolutionary history in Aotearoa, where the earliest members of various groups happen here consisting of huia, kōkako, tīeke, piopio and mohua.”

“It’s most likely that all these types represent the descendants of a quick burst of development and dispersal from Australia to New Zealand.”

“Like a few of the distinct animals from St Bathans, there are no living descendants left in Aotearoa.”

“The bowerbird would have been especially prone to cooling temperature levels in the lead-up to the Ice Ages and the associated modifications in forest comprise and circulation, which likely added to its termination,” Dr. Rawlence stated.

A paper about the discovery of Aeviperditus gracilis was released October 7, 2025 in the Historic Biology, an International Journal of Paleobiology

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Elizabeth M. Steell et alA possible early bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand. Historic Biologyreleased online October 7, 2025; doi: 10.1080/ 08912963.2025.2568099