Antarctic titanosaur tail bone identified after decades in museum collection

Scientists have identified a tail bone of a long-necked, plant-eating titanosaur dinosaur that had been stored for decades in the British Antarctic Survey's collections. The specimen was originally gathered in 1985 during a geological expedition to James Ross Island, Antarctica, by geologist Mike Thomson, who recorded it as a large reptile while mapping rock layers and collecting marine fossils.

Paleontologist Mark Evans later noticed the bone and, together with other researchers, examined its morphology against more complete dinosaur remains. Their analysis confirmed the fossil's dinosaurian nature, and the results were published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

The find is notable because dinosaur fossils are extremely scarce in Antarctica, a continent now covered by ice but once home to lush forests. "It was a rather different and much more hospitable place than we think of today," said study co-author Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum in London.

Measuring about 23 feet in length, the animal was relatively small for a titanosaur and may have been a juvenile at death. Researchers speculate the carcass drifted offshore and settled on the sea floor, becoming fossilized in marine rock. Evans added that the late Mike Thomson would have been pleased to learn of the bone's true identity.