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2h ago

Forgotten 1985 Fossil Confirmed as Antarctica’s First Dinosaur Bone

A peer‑reviewed study dates the tail vertebra to about 82 million years ago, linking it to southern‑hemisphere titanosaurs.

Barrett Et Al.
The bone was collected in December 1985 by the late geologist Mike Thomson, who described it as a "vertebra of large reptile" in his field notebook.
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Overview

  • The bone was collected on James Ross Island in December 1985 and kept in the British Antarctic Survey geology collection until curator Dr Mark Evans reexamined it.
  • A paper published in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica in June 2026 formally identifies the specimen as a titanosaur caudal (tail) vertebra and says it is the first non‑avian dinosaur fossil ever collected from Antarctica.
  • Because the bone came from marine rock containing ammonites, researchers could date it to the early Campanian of the Late Cretaceous, about 82 million years ago, and infer the carcass floated out to sea before burial.
  • Size comparisons of the vertebra indicate a small individual about 6–7 metres long, which the authors say could reflect a juvenile or a small‑bodied titanosaur; this is only the second sauropod body fossil known from the continent.
  • The discovery shows the scientific value of museum archives and supports the idea that the Antarctic Peninsula acted as a dispersal corridor between South America and Zealandia, and it raises the prospect of more finds as fieldwork and ice retreat expose new rock.