"Spicomellus had a diversity of plates and spikes extending from all over its body, including metre-long neck spikes, huge upwards-projecting spikes over the hips, and a whole range of long, blade-like spikes, pieces of armour made up of two long spikes, and plates down the shoulder,"
""We've never seen anything like this in any animal before.""
""We just couldn't believe how weird it was and how unlike any other dinosaur, or indeed any other animal we know of, alive or extinct,""
""It turns much of what we thought we knew about ankylosaurs and their evolution on its head and demonstrates just how much there still is to learn about dinosaurs,""
The fossil originates from Boulemane, Morocco, and dates to more than 165 million years ago. Initially described in 2021 from a single rib bone, later remains reveal a much more elaborately armored animal. The four-legged herbivore measured about the size of a small car and bore three-foot (metre-long) neck spikes, huge upwards-projecting hip spikes, long blade-like spikes, paired spike armor elements, plates over the shoulder, a tail weapon, and bony body armor. Its ribs were lined with fused spikes projecting outward, a feature unprecedented among vertebrates. The complex bone structure likely functioned in mate attraction and rival deterrence and alters understanding of ankylosaur evolution.
Read at www.npr.org
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