New Zealand Stiff-tailed Duck

Oxyura vantetsi is an extinct New Zealand breeds of ducks. She was described in 2005 by Trevor H. Worthy as an independent species. Oxyura vantetsi was closely associated with the Australian duck (Oxyura australis) related, but their bones are smaller by one-tenth, than their Australian relatives. The holotype was founded in 1967 at Lake Poukawa found in the Hawke 's Bay on the North Island of New Zealand. The scientific name honors the late Frederick van Tets English ornithologist Gerard (1929-1995), who was the first to recognize in 1983 the kinship of nature with the rudder ducks. The existing bone material could not be described long time because it was not labeled. So it took until 2004 until it Trevor H. Worthy succeeded by Te Papa Tongarewa, to identify 19 bones of the type Oxyura vantetsi from the 13,000 found at Lake Poukawa fossil remains of aquatic birds. Oxyura vantetsi was probably exterminated by the Maori in the 16th century.