Abstract
Supporting data for: Steell, E. M., Field, D. J., Lubbe, P., Brown, A., Rawlence, N. J., & Tennyson, A. J. D. (2025). A possible early bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand. Historical Biology, https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2568099
Aotearoa New Zealand is home to several endemic passerine bird lineages that likely dispersed from Australia between the Eocene and Miocene. Although the Australian pre-Pleistocene passerine fossil record is well-described, comparatively little is known about Miocene passerines from New Zealand. Here, we describe a distinctive tarsometatarsus attributable to a new passerine species, Aeviperditus gracilis gen. et sp. nov. from the Miocene locality St Bathans, New Zealand, which exhibits derived similarities with bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae).