A fossil that was sitting in a collection drawer for decades has been found to belong to the first dinosaur remains ever discovered in Antarctica. The vertebra or backbone was found in 1985 by a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) expedition, but was initially assessed as belonging to a large reptile.

Discovery and Identification

After multiple decades in storage, it was spotted by Mark Evans, a palaeontologist and manager of the geological collections at the BAS. The fossil belonged to a Titanosaur, a group of long-necked herbivorous sauropods that includes the largest dinosaurs that ever lived.

The dinosaur it belonged to lived around 82 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. At the time this animal lived, we know Antarctica would have been covered in lush temperate forest providing ample food for large herbivores.

Significance of the Discovery

The research also advances our understanding of how dinosaurs moved around the southern continents, according to study coauthor Samantha Beeston, a palaeontology doctoral student at University College London. The find is a “wonderful reminder” about the importance of scientific collections, said Roy Smith, a lecturer in vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Portsmouth, England.

Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.