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Jaws and dentition closely resembling those of the extant tuatara ( Sphenodon ) are described from the Manuherikia Group (Early Miocene; 19–16 million years ago, Mya) of Central Otago, New Zealand. This material is significant in bridging a gap of nearly 70 million years in the rhynchocephalian fossil record between the Late Pleistocene of New Zealand and the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. It provides the first pre-Pleistocene record of Rhynchocephalia in New Zealand, a finding consistent with the view that the ancestors of Sphenodon have been on the landmass since it separated from the rest of Gondwana 82–60 Mya. However, if New Zealand was completely submerged near the Oligo-Miocene boundary (25–22 Mya), as recently suggested, an ancestral sphenodontine would need to have colonized the re-emergent landmass via ocean rafting from a currently unrecorded and now extinct Miocene population. Although an Early Miocene record does not preclude that possibility, it substantially reduces the temporal window of opportunity. Irrespective of pre-Miocene biogeographic history, this material also provides the first direct evidence that the ancestors of the tuatara, an animal often perceived as unsophisticated, survived in New Zealand despite substantial local climatic and environmental changes.

SYNOPSIS Abundant fossil bird bones from the lower Bannockburn Formation, Manuherikia Group, an Early-Middle Miocene lacustrine deposit, 16-19 Ma, from Otago in New Zealand, reveal the "St Bathans Fauna" (new name), a first Tertiary avifauna of land and freshwater birds from New Zealand. At least 23 species of birds are represented by bones, and probable moa, Aves: Dinornithiformes, by eggshell. Anatids dominate the fauna with four genera and five species described as new: a sixth and largest anatid species is represented by just one bone. This is the most diverse Early-Middle Miocene duck fauna known worldwide. Among ducks, two species of dendrochenines are most numerous in the fauna, but a tadornine is common as well. A diving petrel (Pelecanoididae: Pelecanoides) is described, so extending the geological range of this genus worldwide from the Pliocene to the Middle Miocene, at least. The remaining 16 taxa are left undescribed but include: a large species of gull (Laridae); two small waders (Charadriiformes, genus indet.), the size of Charadrius bicinctus and Calidris ruficollis, respectively; a gruiform represented by one specimen similar to Aptornis; abundant rail (Rallidae) bones, including a common flightless rail and a rarer slightly larger taxon, about the size of Gallirallus philippensis; an ?eagle (Accipitridae); a pigeon (Columbidae); three parrots (Psittacidae); an owlet nightjar (Aegothelidae: Aegotheles sp.); a swiftlet (Apodidae: Collocalia sp.); and three passerine taxa, of which the largest is a member of the Cracticidae. The absence of some waterbirds, such as anserines (including swans), grebes (Podicipedidae) and shags (Phalacrocoracidae), among the abundant bones, indicates their probable absence from New Zealand in the Early-Middle Miocene.

The presence of bone growth marks reflecting annual rhythms in the cortical bone of non-avian tetrapods is now established as a general phenomenon. In contrast, ornithurines (the theropod group including modern birds and their closest relatives) usually grow rapidly in less than a year, such that no annual rhythms are expressed in bone cortices, except scarce growth marks restricted to the outer cortical layer. So far, cyclical growth in modern birds has been restricted to the Eocene Diatryma , the extant parrot Amazona amazonica and the extinct New Zealand (NZ) moa (Dinornithidae). Here we show the presence of lines of arrested growth in the long bones of the living NZ kiwi ( Apteryx spp., Apterygidae). Kiwis take 5–6 years to reach full adult body size, which indicates a delayed maturity and a slow reproductive cycle. Protracted growth probably evolved convergently in moa and kiwi sometime since the Middle Miocene, owing to the severe climatic cooling in the southwest Pacific and the absence of mammalian predators.

Peter McGill is Senior Lecturer in Learning Disability at the Tizard Centre. A clinical psychologist by training, he has previously held posts in the NHS, Social Services and the Voluntary sector. Alan Tennyson is a Programme Supervisor with the RehabCare Group. He carried out this research during postgraduate study at the Tizard Centre. Vivien Cooper is the parent of a young man with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour and the founder of the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, an organisation established to provide information and support to families and others. She is also a postgraduate student at the Tizard Centre. AbstractThis paper reports the findings of a survey of parents whose children attended 52-week residential schools. 73 parents completed a postal questionnaire which asked questions about three main areas: support and services received prior to their child's entry into residential education; perceptions of the quality of care and education provided by residential schools; and concerns for their child's future care and welfare. Telephone interviews were conducted with 14 parents, to obtain additional information on the topics addressed by the questionnaire. Parents were critical of services and supports received prior to their child's entry into residential education and reported high rates of exclusion from local services. Residential schools were generally perceived as providing a good quality of service, though considerable concern was expressed about their geographical distance from the family home and this had a significant impact on the frequency of visits. Parents expressed high levels of concern about the future care and support needs of their children. Further research is required to understand the relationship between the availability and quality of local services and the need for 52-week residential schools. The impact of distant residential education on parent-child relationships and on future demand for residential care is considered.Keywords: learning disabled children, residential schools, parental views, challenging behaviour.Word count 7289 (excluding abstract and references)

SignificanceThe mode and tempo of extinctions and extirpations after the first contact phase of human settlements is a widely debated topic. As the last major landmass to be settled by humans, New Zealand offers a unique lens through which to study interactions of people and biota. By analyzing ancient DNA from more than 5,000 nondiagnostic and fragmented bones from 38 subfossil assemblages, we describe species and patterns that have been missed by morphological approaches. We report the identification of five species of whale from an archaeological context in New Zealand and describe the prehistoric kākāpō population structure. Taken together, this study demonstrates insights into subsistence practices and extinction processes and demonstrates the value of genetic analyses of fossil assemblages.

Aves: Ardeidae) are rare in the fossil record globally. Fossil taxa referred to Ardeinae and Nycticoracini are known from as early as the early Oligocene and ardeids undetermined to subfamily include some as old as the early Eocene. In Australasia, the pre-Pliocene record is restricted to one species from the early Miocene of New Zealand. On the basis of a tarsometatarsus and a coracoid we describe a new species of bittern (Ardeidae: Botaurinae) from the St Bathans Fauna, of early Miocene age, from Otago, New Zealand. This is only the third and the oldest pre-Quaternary record for Botaurinae globally.

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