Fossil hunters on the Isle of Wight have unearthed bones from the biggest dinosaur so far discovered in the UK. One fossil - a single neck bone from the 125-130-million-year-old sauropod dinosaur - measures an astonishing three-quarters of a metre in length. Based on this, a team of UK and US researchers believes the huge reptile was probably over 20m long and could have weighed as much as 40-50 tonnes. Details of the discovery appear in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research. "It is impressively big," team leader Darren Naish, of the University of Portsmouth, told the BBC News website. The long-necked sauropods were the biggest and heaviest group of dinosaurs in existence. Physical features of the fossil suggest the British creature had similarities to two other known sauropods: Brachiosaurus and Sauroposeidon. The well-preserved cervical vertebra was found in 1992 along a stretch of beach between Chilton Chine and Sudmoor Point. It was enclosed in a rock matrix called siderite. "Siderite is very tough - it's an iron-impregnated clay. After 125 million years or so, it sets like concrete. This enclosed and protected the very fragile bone," explained Steve Hutt, of the Dinosaur Isle museum, where the specimen is on display. Mr Naish realised the fossil's importance in 2000 and decided to describe it for publication in a scientific journal.
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