TANIHWA
Folklore of New Zealand
This is the name of a class of gigantic monster in the traditions and legends of the Maori people of New Zealand. TANIHWA is described as a vast, lizard-like creature or dragon with huge fangs in it's jaws and a long, spiny tail that attacked and devoured any humans that it encountered. The legends tell of the hero PITAKA who, with a band of fearless men and some magic chants, managed to trap and kill three of these TANIHWA, from which the bodies of all the people they had devoured tumbled when the bodies were slit open.
Source: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth