new zealand is part of the continent zealandia on the map.
what continent is new zealand part of map?
zealandia
the break-up of the supercontinent of gondwana left the resulting continents and microcontinents with shared biological affinities. zealandia (the continental crust from which new zealand and new caledonia later developed) began to move away from antarctic gondwana 85 ma ago, the break being complete by 66 ma ago. it has been moving northwards since then, changing both in relief and climate. about 23 million years ago new zealand was mostly underwater. one estimate suggests just 18% of the present surface area remained above the water. however geological evidence does not rule out the possibility that it was entirely submerged, or at least restricted to small islands. today about 93% of the zealandian continent remains below the sea. several elements of gondwana biota are present in new zealand today: predominantly plants, such as the podocarps and the southern beeches, but also a distinctive insect fauna, new zealand's unusual frogs and the tuatara, as well as some of new zealand's birds. it seems likely that some primitive mammals also were part of the original cargo. whether or not any of these taxa are descendents of survivors of that ancient cargo remains unproven. recent molecular evidence has shown that even the iconic gondwanan plants the southern beeches ("nothofagus") arrived in new zealand after separation of zealandia from gondwana. there is a high rate of interspecific and intraspecific hybridisation in new zealand plants and animals.
biodiversity of new zealand
part one of the constitution act 1986 describes "the sovereign", the reigning monarch, as new zealand's head of state. section 2(1) of the act declares "the sovereign in right of new zealand" as head of state, and section 5(1) describes the sovereign's successor as being "determined in accordance with the enactment of the parliament of england intituled the act of settlement". this means that the head of state of the united kingdom under the act of settlement 1701 is also the head of state of new zealand. under the imperial laws application act 1988, however, the act of settlement is deemed a new zealand act, which may be amended only by the new zealand parliament.
constitution of new zealand