Brian Gosling (@brigosling.bsky.social)

Antarctica's first dinosaur fossil confirmed from 1985 Antarctic expedition A bone collected by a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) geologist nearly 40 years ago has been formally described as the first dinosaur fossil ever found on the Antarctic continent. The vertebra was discovered by Dr Mike Thomson, a BAS geologist, during a 1985 expedition to James Ross Island on the Antarctic Peninsula. The expedition’s aim was to map rock layers to help future geologists and palaeontologists date fossil finds across the region. At the time, Thomson recorded it as a large reptile but it has only now been formally identified as belonging to a dinosaur. Finding the dinosaur bone in our collection Dr Mark Evans, palaeontologist and manager of the geological collections and labs at BAS, said: “This fossil was found by Dr Mike Thomson, one of the true pioneers of Antarctic geology. His work helps us date all fossil finds across the Antarctic Peninsula today. When I first spotted this bone in our collections a few years ago, I suspected it was a dinosaur. After looking at it properly, I thought it was probably a titanosaur tail vertebra. Looking back at Mike’s notebooks, he knew it was a large reptile so it’s very special to confirm his find 40... https://www.bas.ac.uk/news/antarcticas-first-dinosaur-fossil-confirmed-from-1985-antarctic-expedition/