I suspect that the parent poster is talking about the geology of Hawaii. New Zealand was part of Gondwanaland, and became isolated by continental drift. Anyth

I suspect that the parent poster is talking about the geology of Hawaii. New Zealand was part of Gondwanaland, and became isolated by continental drift. Anything living there when the islands became separated from the rest of the supercontinent is native. Hawaii is a bunch of volcanoes that sprung out of the middle of the ocean. There were no land animals on the islands when they first became islands. Now, that's a slightly topsy-turvy definition of native, which (etymologically) should mean any species that came into existence on the island.