US EditionStubby dinosaur took spikey armor to the extreme
Spicomellus afer features a spiked neck collar and tail weapon, pushing ankylosaur evolution back 30 million years, according to University of Birmingham researchers.
6 Articles
6 Articles
Scientists at the London Museum of Natural History reveal new fossils of Spicomellus afer, the oldest known ankylosaur. Its incredible armor, with one metre spines fused to the ribs, is changing everything we knew about the evolution of battleship dinosaurs. Imagine a creature so formidablely armored that its defense was not an outer layer, but an integral part of its skeleton. An international team of paleontologists has completed the puzzle of…
New remains of the oldest known ankylosaur reveal that he was wearing an armor with a unique bone collar surrounded by one metre long spikes protruding from both sides of his neck. Spicomellus afer also possessed a weapon in his tail more than 30 million years before any other ankylosaur, according to a new study published in Nature. This creature lived more than 165 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic, near what is now the Moroccan city of…
Morocco Unearths Strangest Dinosaur Yet—Spiked, Armored, and Weaponized | The Middle East Observer
Deep in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, paleontologists have uncovered one of the most extraordinary dinosaur fossils yet: Spicomellus afer, a 165-million-year-old ankylosaur armored with lethal spikes—even sporting a primitive tail weapon. The newly unearthed remains, including rib fragments, vertebrae, a spiked neck collar, and fused tail bones, reveal that this ankylosaur boasted bone spikes fused directly […]
Researchers have examined new fossils of Spicomelus, which lived about 165 million years ago in present-day Morocco. "Its armor is strange, awe-inspiring, and unlike that of any other dinosaur or animal."
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