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The “web of knowledge” is often built around unusual
connections. What does a spider have in common with ancient
rocks and the fossils? Where does North Otago fit into this
story, and what connection is there with the Vanished World
Centre at Duntroon? You may be surprised!
Some 85 million years ago, New Zealand separated from the primeval
continent given the name Gondwana - a sliver of land that became
a raft for living things from the Cretaceous period. But what
a raft! Over millions of years, mountains pushed their way up
and were eroded down, the climate changed, the sea rose and
fell, swamping the land and then freeing it, volcanoes burst
to life and spread their hot breath over the land. Countless
millions of living creatures were to live and die. Many didn’t
adapt and became extinct, but one whose ancestor from Gondwana
adapted to disaster and change survived. This is the Misgolas
trapdoor spider who has been here for some 85 million years.
Found throughout North Otago, these spiders live in burrows,
and go about daily living as their ancestors have for millions
of years - a precious living fossil in our backyard. The genetic
coding located in these living fossils may one day further our
understanding of the evolution of ecosystems.
To learn more about these fascinating creatures read The
Minefield Spiders by Lindsay L. Irish. In the 1960s, Lindsay
Irish traveled around Otago with Professor Brian Marples from
Otago University searching for trapdoor spiders along roadsides
and in public lands to acquire data to build up a pattern of
spider distribution. Professor Brian Marples was a spider expert,
and it is this interest that threads a connection to Duntroon.
(The Minefield Spiders can be purchased from the Vanished
World Centre).
The Duntroon Connection
It is thought that Professor Marples’ professional interest
in spiders brought him to Duntroon, as trapdoor spiders are
common in the limestone country of North Otago. He was, however,
to make another significant contribution to knowledge, based
on fossil material recovered from locations in the Middle Waitaki
Valley and Duntroon.
The Historic Duntroon Hotel
Students from Otago University worked in the field to recover
important fossil specimens. The social centre of Duntroon, the
bar of the local hotel, became a great place to exchange the
stories of the day. Gatherings there of Professor Marples and
his students are reputed to have been lively, leaving a reputation
still vivid some 40 years later in the minds of some local residents.
Field Work
Marples recovered fossilised bones of penguins and cetaceans
(whales and dolphins) from Oligocene limestone and greensand
in the Waitaki Valley, mostly near Duntroon but also in the
Hakataramea Valley.
His work on New Zealand Oligocene penguins is one of the major
contributions to local vertebrate palaeontology. It offers a
careful account of anatomy and function, supplemented by radiographs
by A. C. Begg and foraminiferal age determinations by H. J.
Finlay. His descriptive work is enduring; forming the foundation
for studies by the leading vertebrate paleontologist and paleospheniscologist,
G. G. Simpson (1971).
Work at Duntroon also led to a short account of three new species
of archaic baleen whale, species which he placed in the genus
Mauicetus. A small sketch of a reconstructed skull (Marples
1956a) revealed a baleen whale more primitive and apparently
older than any previously described worldwide.
Marples very much put New Zealand on the map. His interests
in fossil cetacea led to one other notable contribution, from
zoology student, M. R. Dickson (1964), who described and named
the archaic Oligocene dolphin Prosqualodon marplesi (now Notocetus
marplesi, family Squalodelphinidae).
Compiled by Roger Blackburn, based on information from
the works below.
For further information refer to:
1. Fordyce, R.E., Brian John Marples, BA, MA, MSc, FRSNZ
,FAZ, 1907-1997. In Yearbook of the Academy Council
of the Royal Society of New Zealand 2000, p. 72-79. The
Council, 2001.
2. Irish, Lindsay L. The Minefield Spiders, p. 24-25.
Dunedin, Biodiversity Solutions, 2001.
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