A fossil that remained stored in a collections drawer for decades has been identified as belonging to the first dinosaur remains ever discovered in Antarctica.
The vertebra or spinal column was found in 1985 by a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) expedition, but was initially classified as belonging to a large reptile, according to a statement from the Natural History Museum in London released on Monday.
After decades in storage, it was discovered by Mark Evans, paleontologist and manager of the geological collections at BAS (British Astronomical Society).
“It sounds weird, I just needed to make sure it was what I thought it was,” Evans told CNN.
The fossil belonged to a Titanosaurus, a group that includes the largest dinosaurs that ever lived.
According to the Natural History Museum, they had a standard weight of 15 metric tons (16.5 US tons). The largest known specimen was estimated to be 37 meters (about 121 feet) long and weighed about 63.5 metric tons (70 short tons).
However, this particular vertebra, which measures about 10 centimeters (four inches) in diameter, belongs to a juvenile or small adult individual that would be between six and seven meters (20 to 23 feet) long, according to the release.
“This bone sat in a collection drawer for decades until new research revealed what it was: rare evidence that long-necked sauropod dinosaurs lived in Antarctica,” study co-author Matthew C. Lamanna, Mary R. Dawson Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said in a statement.
“At first glance, this appears to be an ordinary fossil, but it holds an important place in the history of Antarctic exploration, being the first dinosaur fossil found on the continent,” said Paul Barrett, a researcher at the Natural History Museum, in a statement.
The dinosaur it belonged to lived about 82 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.
“At the time this animal lived, we know that Antarctica was covered in lush temperate rainforest, which provided abundant food for large herbivores,” Barrett said.
The ice that currently covers most of the continent means it has a sparse fossil record, but that could change in the future, he said.
“There are likely to be many on the continent. As climate change causes ice to retreat, we may indeed find more evidence of this past biodiversity,” Barrett added.
The research also expands our understanding of how dinosaurs moved across the southern continents, according to study co-author Samantha Beeston, a doctoral candidate in paleontology at University College London.
“During the Cretaceous period, when this animal lived, Antarctica was part of the , and this new discovery shows that its close relatives traveled between South America and Australia via Antarctica,” Beeston said in the statement.
See dinosaurs and archaeological discoveries
Roy Smith, professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Portsmouth, England, who was not involved in the research, said the discovery was a “wonderful reminder” of the importance of scientific collections.
“Although this fossil is just a single vertebra, its importance is immense,” he told CNN in an email.
“As the first dinosaur fossil discovered in Antarctica, it provides crucial evidence for understanding how dinosaurs dispersed across the southern continents and demonstrates that these remarkable animals inhabited every continent on Earth,” said Smith.
“It also highlights the enduring scientific value of carefully curated museum collections, which continue to generate extraordinary discoveries decades after the specimens were initially collected,” he added.
Steve Brusatte, professor of paleontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who was not involved in the research, told CNN that this is an “interesting discovery.”
“We know very little about the dinosaurs that lived in Antarctica,” he said Tuesday. “This is just an incomplete bone, but it has enormous importance.”
An article about the fossil was published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
