QUATERNARY FOSSIL FAUNA OF SOUTH CANTERBURY, SOUTH-ISLAND, NEW-ZEALAND

This study documents the Late Quaternary fossil fauna from 59 fossil s ites in the South Canterbury downlands, South Island, New Zealand. Twe nty-seven sites were predator accumulations attributed to laughing owl s, two were accumulated by falcons, two were swamp sites, and the rest were pitfalls or rockshelter deposits. A total of 60 indigenous speci es of birds, one bat, three rodents, one tuatara, four geckos, and two skinks were represented in the combined faunas from these sites. When the birds known historically are added, the fauna of inland South Can terbury downlands is shown to have had a minimum diversity of 87 speci es in the Late Holocene before human disturbance. There were no marked faunal changes associated with the climatic amelioration from the Oti ra Glacial to the Holocene, such as were seen in the wetter western re gions. During the Holocene in South Canterbury, species characteristic of Otiran grassland - shrubland faunas survived alongside those typic al of Holocene western closed-forest communities, although the latter were not as abundant as they were in the west. The large diversity of birds, relative to other New Zealand faunas, is therefore the result o f continued survival in Canterbury into the Holocene, of grassland - s hrubland mosaics similar to those that characterised widespread parts of New Zealand during the glacial periods. However, the geographic fea ture that permitted the survival of these critical vegetation physiogn omies also caused the area to be dry, and vegetation was hence most pr one to destruction by fire. This complex ecosystem is now almost total ly destroyed.