The Brothers (New Zealand) with the largest being only some one hectare in area. The Māori name for the group, "Ngāwhatu-kai-ponu" literally means "the eyes that witnessed", and the islands are considered "tapu" to Māori. North Brother Island is a sanctuary for the rare reptile species, the Brothers Island tuatara and is the type locality for a rare beetle, the "Amychus granulatus, although it is possibly extinct there now. The Brothers (New Zealand) The Brothers is a group of small islands in Cook Strait, New Zealand, off the east coast of Arapaoa Island. The Brothers form two small island groups, each containing one main
Geology of New Zealand batholith dividing the Western and Eastern Provinces. Before Zealandia's separation from Gondwana it stretched from Queensland, through what is now New Zealand, into West Antarctica. It marks the site of a former subduction zone on the edge of Gondwana. The Eastern Province underlies more of New Zealand than the Western Province, including the greywacke and schist of the Southern Alps and all of the basement rocks of the North Island. The Eastern Province contains seven main terranes, the Drumduan, Brook Street, Murihiku, Dun Mountain-Maitai, Caples, Torlesse Composite (Rakaia, Aspiring and Pahau terranes) and Waipapa Composite (Morrinsville and Hunua Terranes). They