ANDY JACKSON/Stuff
When John Buchanan-Brown found the remains in a rock, he knew it was a petrel but did not know it was a new species dating back 3.4 million years.
A Taranaki fossil collector has been credited with the world-first discovery of a new species of petrel – his second major find of a new species dating back 3.4 million years.
Geologist and teacher John Buchanan-Brown was notified of the discovery last weekend after finding the remains of a petrel skeleton embedded in a rock which had fallen from a cliff face on a South Taranaki beach in 2015.
Buchanan-Brown split the ancient mudstone rock and prepared the surface to expose the well-preserved remains.