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Within New Zealand, the Black-fronted Tern is found from the southern tip of the North Island, and along much of the eastern South Island from Marlborough to Southland, and to Stewart Island.
Members of the kānuka complex are found throughout New Zealand occurring on the Three Kings Islands, Aotea (Great Barrier Island), from Te Paki (on the Aupouri Peninsula) at the northern tip of the North Island to as far south as Dunedin and Central Otago in the South Island, and the Stewart Island.
This species is known to occur under stones at the shore line on a number of New Zealand's islands: Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, Campbell Island, and Stewart Island.
It was once considered a subspecies of the New Zealand Robin of South and Stewart Islands, but mitochondrial DNA sequences have shown that the two lineages split prior to the Pleistocene and supported the split into two species.
The original Māori name, Te Punga o Te Waka a Maui, positions Stewart Island / Rakiura firmly at the heart of Māori mythology.
Its distribution range is disjunct: one species is endemic to New Zealand (mainly Stewart Island, Otago and Southland) while the other one is endemic to southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
It has also been suggested that "Pacific’s triple star" simply means the three main islands of New Zealand -- Northern, Middle and Stewart as they were referred to at that time.