A South American dinosaur of truly magnificent proportions is claimed to be the largest ever to have been discovered in Brazil.

Brazilian scientists say they have discovered the fossil of the largest dinosaur ever found in South America’s biggest country. Director of Rio de Janeiro’s Earth Sciences Museum, Diogenes Campos (pictured), named the 25-meter-long dinosaur Austroposeidon magnificus.

Austroposeidon magnificus was identified from its fossilised neck bone (pictured)

The Brazilian beast is cousin of the largest dinosaur ever uncovered, the  Argentinosaurus huinculensis, which is believed to have reached lengths of 115 feet and was unearthed in neighbouring Argentina.

Analysis of the fossils (pictured) reveal it belonged to the Titanosaur group of herbivores which had large bodies, long necks and tails and relatively small skulls

The fragments of fossilsed vertebrae are believed to be part of the giant animal’s neck (illustrated)

Now, the bones of the gargantuan dinosaur will go on display to the public for the first time

The fossils of the Brazilian beast give an idea of just how large it would have been

Staff at the Museum have claimed the dinosaur, which was discovered in the 1950s, is the largest to have ever been found. Pictured is paeleontologist Alexander Kellner holding one of the bones

The collection of fossils lay in a storage cupboard at the Earth Sciences Museum, in Rio de Janeiro, for decades

They were re-examined by staff recently after the institute had obtained enough funding, resources and expertise