Mitogenomic evidence of close relationships between New Zealand’s extinct giant raptors and small-sized Australian sister-taxa

Prior to human arrival in the 13th century, two large birds of prey were the top predators in New Zealand. In the absence of non-volant mammals, the extinct Haast’s eagle (Hieraaetus moorei), the largest eagle in the world, and the extinct Eyles’ harrier (Circus teauteensis) the largest harrier in the world, had filled ecological niches that are on other landmasses occupied by animals such as large cats or canines. The evolutionary and biogeographic history of these island giants has long been a mystery. Here we reconstruct the origin and evolution of New Zealand’s giant raptors using complete mitochondrial genome data. We show that both Eyles’ harrier and Haast’s eagle diverged from much smaller, open land adapted Australasian relatives in the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene. These events coincided with the development of open habitat in the previously densely forested islands of New Zealand. Our study provides evidence of rapid evolution of island gigantism in New Zealand’s extinct birds of prey. Early Pleistocene climate and environmental changes were likely to have triggered the establishment of Australian raptors into New Zealand. Our results shed light on the evolution of two of the most impressive cases of island gigantism in the world.