First dinosaur bone from Antarctica found in a drawer

Alongside a tiny, neat sketch of the fossil dated 9 December 1985 he has written "vertebra of large reptile", noting it was about 10cm wide.Evans says the team that found it probably thought the fossil belonged to a marine reptile.But as soon as he saw it, Evans realised the vertebra looked very dinosaur-like. And the date of its discovery meant it would have been the first dinosaur fossil found on the continent.Andrew McAfee/Carnegie Museum of Natural HistoryWhen Titanosaurs inhabited Antarctica 80 million years ago it would have been covered in lush forestHe called in Prof Paul Barrett from the Natural History Museum (NHM) to confirm his discovery."Although it's not too much to look at, it actually has a really distinctive shape," Barrett told us, holding the fossil in his hands.He pointed to a hollow on one end of the fossil and then turned it over to reveal a rounded bump at the other. The vertebrae line up to create a series of ball-and-socket joints running from head to tail."As soon as I saw it, I knew what we were dealing with… it was a dead cert we were dealing with a Titanosaur," he said. "This is a combination of features that's completely unique to these types of dinosaurs."