Armored dinosaur resembling medieval nightmare creature found in Morocco.
Palaeontology continues to offer surprises capable of rewriting the history of dinosaurs. In Morocco, an international team discovered Spicomellus afer, an ankylosaur from 165 million years ago whose armor is as strange as it is fascinating. Its body, covered with spikes and bony collars, shows a defensive adaptation never before documented, raising questions about how this creature lived and moved.
An armor never seen in nature
Spicomellus afer had ribs and vertebrae adorned with spikes up to one meter long, many of them fused directly to the skeleton. The spikes concentrated on the neck, flanks, and hips, creating a kind of “spiny collar” that and any other vertebrate.
Scientists point out that this bony fusion may have limited the animal’s mobility and increased energy expenditure, suggesting that, in addition to defense, its spikes may have played a role in sexual displays or rivalries between individuals.
Ankylosaurs: the tanks of the Jurassic and Cretaceous
Ankylosaurs were and wide, famous for their bony armor and, in many later species, for the tail club. They inhabited America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, feeding on tough vegetation thanks to their robust skull and specialized dentition.
With their armor and weapons, few predators could threaten them. The discovery in Morocco demonstrates that even in their earliest forms, they were already experimenting with spectacular defenses.
A discovery that changes the timeline
The fossil was recovered in 2023 near Boulemane. Although the complete tail is not preserved, researchers identified fused vertebrae similar to those that would support a tail club in much more recent species. This advances the appearance of these evolutionary weapons by millions of years.
Furthermore, it confirms that Africa played a role , with much more complex morphologies than previously thought for the Middle Jurassic.
