Trevor H. Worthy

Trevor H. Worthy is a paleozoologist from New Zealand best known for his research work on the moa which earned him the nick name "Mr. Moa". In the late 1980s Worthy unearthed the fossil remains of three frog species from the ancient Leiopelmatidae family, the Aurora frog ("Leiopelma auroraensis"), the Markham's frog ("Leiopelma markhami"), and the Waitomo frog ("Leiopelma waitomoensis"). In the 1990s Worthy discovered several fossil bird species new to science, including the Long-billed Wren ("Dendroscansor decurvirostris") in 1991, the Scarlett's Shearwater ("Puffinus spelaeus") in 1991, and the Niue Night Heron ("Nycticorax kalavikai") in 1995. By 1998 he spend some time on Fiji, were he found subfossil material of the flightless Viti Levu Giant Pigeon ("Natunaornis gigoura"), the Fiji Scrubfowl ("Megapodius amissus"), the Viti Levu Snipe ("Coenocorypha miratropica"), the Giant Fiji ground frog ("Platymantis megabotoniviti"), and the small freshwater crocodile "Volia athollandersoni". The holotypes of these species are on display in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Further remarkable discoveries in which Worthy was involved are the oldest moa bones ever found, the oldest tuatara bones and a new fossil land mammal from New Zealand; the Saint Bathans mammal.

Worthy, who worked under the contract of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology in Masterton, Nelson, and for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa since 1991 was forced to stop his research work for the museum in 2005 after the funding was cut by the foundation. Since 2005 he has been working at the University of Adelaide, where he received his Ph.D in 2008.

Worthy is co-author of several articles about the prehistoric life on New Zealand. For the book "The Lost Land of the Moa" (2002) he and Richard N. Holdaway got the D. L. Serventy Medal by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union in 2003 for an outstandling published work about the Australasian avifauna.

External links

* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectsearch.aspx?sm=anh List of Worthy's collection in the Te Papa Tangarewa Museum] (type Worthy into the search field "Collected by")
* [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10773-fossils-reveal-new-zealands-indigenous-mouse.html Fossils reveal New Zealand's indigenous 'mouse']
* [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10124525 New Zealand Herald - Mr Moa's cash extinct]
* [http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/release/snake.html SCIENTISTS FIND FIRST SNAKE FOSSIL IN NEW ZEALAND]
* [http://www.comsdev.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2002/02102402.shtml Short biography of Trevor Worthy]