Discoveries like Spicomellus afer reshape how scientists understand dinosaur evolution and the timing of key adaptations. By proving that armor and tail weapons appeared earlier than once believed, ...

The earliest ankylosaur on the fossil record sported the most extreme adornments ever seen in a vertebrate animal, even other ankylosaurs. Spicomellus afer, which lived during the Middle Jurassic more ...

The world’s most unusual dinosaur is even stranger than first realised... Today, research published in Nature [link] reports that Spicomellus afer had a tail weapon more than 30 million years before ...

More than 150 million years ago, a strange dinosaur with spiky, armored skin roamed Earth. That dinosaur was the ankylosaur, a close relative of the more well-known stegosaurus. Ankylosaurs likely ...

One cervical half-ring with elongate spikes, small spikes covering the dorsum of the body and large spikes and a sacral shield over the hips are in their known positions on the body; the location of ...

Researchers have discovered a fossil in Morocco of a dinosaur species that roamed the plains of northern Africa at least 165 million years ago, featuring a dangerous tail and "extreme" armor. A group ...

Scientists have discovered a bizarre armoured dinosaur “punk-dock” that has got everyone buzzing. The 165 million years old creature was discovered in Morocco Atlas Mountains, called Spicomellus afer.

The ankylosaurus, already the best dinosaur, has been further improved. Spicomellus afer, sporting what the BBC describes as "punk rock" dermal armor along its head and back, is at 165m years the ...

Named Spicomellus afer, the creature lived around 165 million years ago and carried an armour set that looked less like nature and more like a Pokémon sketchbook. It was packed with spikes across its ...