Scientists have discovered fossils of a bizarre Jurassic Dinosaurus in Morocco, covered with extravagant spikes and armor who has never been seen in another animal before, Reuters reported.
The called Spicomellus, the 13-foot-long plant-eater lived about 165 million years ago and is now the earliest known Ankylosaur, a group of heavily armored dinosaurs.
Researchers say that Spicomellus had metre-long neck peaks, a collar of bony records and melted tail vertebrae that may have supported a weapon like a club. The extensive armor could have served as a defense against predators and a display to attract partners.
Vertebrate animal palontologist Richard Butler of the University of Birmingham called the characteristics “stand-by strange”, while main author Susannah Maidment of the Natural History Museum suggested that the impractical peaks were probably linked to courtship. The fossils were dug up between 2022 and 2023 in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
The back was covered with short spikes, because of ribs with spikes on their upper surfaces. It had a bony collar with plates and two pairs of spikes that projected outside the neck, including a 2.85 feet (87 cm) that was probably even longer when the animal lived. It also had a pelvic shield and two large outdoor -losing spikes above its hips.
Distinguishing merged tail vertebrae suggested that Spicomellus had a weapon at the end of his tail to fight predators – perhaps a kind of club or spikes – although they were not found under the remains.
Such melted tail vertebrae are only found in ankylosaurs with tail weapons. This would indicate that tail weapons appeared in Ankylosaurians about 30 million years earlier than previously known.
Ankylosaurs were among the most successful herbivore dinosaurs. They are closely related to another group of herbivores called Stegosaurs that brag blocks on the back and a spiky tail weapon.
Both groups emerged during the Jura. But the Ankylosaurs survived the Stegosaurs, flourishing to an asteroid 66 million years ago the earth at the end of the chalk, the age of dinosaurs.
The most famous member of the group, Ankylosaurus, was larger than Spicomellus, about 26 feet (8 meters) long and inhabited West-Noord-America during the dinosaurs. The armor, including a formidable tail club, protected against predators, including Tyrannosaurus.
Early members of dinosaur groups often have fairly ordinary body plans compared to their later counterparts. Spicomellus shows that this was not the case with Ankylosaurs.
“The armor of Spicomellus is much more extensive than that of later Ankylosaurs, and no later Ankylosaurs have spiky ribs.
What is surprising for us is that the most extensive Ankylosaurus armor of all time is present in the oldest member of the group.
Perhaps the simpler armor reflects a shift in later species to the armor with a primary defensive function as a result of increased predation pressure in chalk, “when predators became exceptionally large, butler said.
