New NZ mammal fossil found
An international team led by University of Adelaide palaeontologist Trevor Worthy has discovered a unique, primitive type of land mammal that lived at least 16 million years ago on New Zealand. The discovery of tiny fossilised bones of a mouselike creature in the Central Otago region is the first hard evidence that New Zealand once had its own indigenous land mammals. The finding could prompt a major rewrite of prehistory textbooks, say scientists.