Joan Wiffen

Joan Wiffen (1922-2009) was an amateur fossil collector who became interested in paleontology in the 1950s. In 1975, she discovered the bones of a seven meter (~21 feet) long theropod dinosaurs and unearthed and named a new mosasaur species, Moanasaurus (meaning "sea lizard" in the Maori language.) Mrs. Wiffen died suddenly in a Hawke's Bay hospital on Tuesday, July 1st, 2009. Mrs. Wiffen was the author and co-author of more than a dozen scientific papers and wrote of her achievements in her book Valley of the Dragons.