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Scientists have discovered the fossil remains of a heavily armored dinosaur, featuring rib spikes, a bony neck collar, and a tail possibly used as a weapon.
This fossil, found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, dates back 165 million years and represents a new species of ankylosaur named Spicomellus.
It was not a creature to be trifled with.
Researchers indicate that Spicomellus was equipped with six rib spikes, a protective pelvic shield, and a neck collar adorned with four massive spikes. One of these spikes reached an impressive length of 87 centimeters – nearly the size of a baseball bat.
“It features what seems to be a bony collar around the neck, from which four large spikes protrude,” says co-lead researcher Professor Susannah Maidment from The Natural History Museum. “One of these spikes is 87 centimeters long, though some are broken, having been buried for 165 million years. Yet, the spike we have is still formidable in size.”
She notes: “In its lifetime, it would have been atop a covering made of a horny material, similar to what our nails are made of, making them even longer.”
Evidence from the tail bones suggests this dinosaur had an early version of the notorious ankylosaur “tail club” – fused vertebrae that supported a powerful weapon at the tail’s end. This discovery pushes the origin of tail weapons in dinosaurs back by 30 million years.
Its armor may also have served as a display mechanism: “Can you picture moving around with spikes of a meter length sticking out from a collar? It would have been prone to getting entangled in foliage,” Maidment says.
“This most likely indicates that the creature used its armor not just for defense, as often assumed with armored dinosaurs, but also possibly for display purposes.”
Later ankylosaurs evolved simpler armor, suggesting a shift from display to protection.
