Researchers uncover new fossils of 165-million-year-old ankylosaur

Researchers have found a fossil in Morocco of a dinosaur species that roamed the plains of northern Africa a minimum of 165 million years in the past, that includes a harmful tail and “extreme” armor.

A bunch of 13 scientists revealed findings from a “much more complete specimen” of a Spicomellus afer in an article published by Nature.

The spicomellus is known as for the primary fossil of the species that was found, a rib fragment with fused spikes from the Middle Jurassic of Morocco, which recommended it was an ankylosaur. The rib fragment was the oldest file of the group globally and the one one from Africa on the time.

The new discovery, introduced on Aug. 27, contained vertebrae, dorsal ribs, and spikes.

When it roamed, the spicomellus had a plethora of spikes that appeared to have made it a fearsome foe, as seen in illustrations created from the fossils.

“No other vertebrate possesses the exceptionally elaborate dermal armor of Spicomellus,” the authors wrote. They added that less complicated variations of the spikes discovered on later ankylosaurs recommend that the considerable spikes could have had a job in mating.

“It has these incredibly distinctive spikes around the neck – an armored collar that is absolutely enormous and totally out of proportion to the rest of the body, smaller spikes projecting out of the ribs, and at the end of its tail it would have had some kind of weapon,” Richard Butler, Director of Research for the College of Life & Environmental Sciences on the University of Birmingham and the challenge co-lead, informed The Guardian.

Butler described the two-ton creature as “dim-witted” however “successful.” 

Spicomellus discover places highlight on fossil poaching

The authors of the Nature article stated the invention was first excavated by a neighborhood farmer close to the city of Boulemane, about 160 miles southeast of the nation’s capital of Rabat, from October 2022 to April 2023.

Butler informed The Guardian that the world the spicomellus was present in has been focused by fossil poachers, with different items believed to be part of the found spicomellus being listed on-line for round $13,500.

“There’s a huge problem with fossil poaching in Morocco,” Butler stated. “There’s probably a significant amount [of the specimen] that has gone on to the market, often purchased by wealthy individuals. It’s quite a sad aspect of this story.