World’s oldest armored dinosaur had bizarre 3-foot neck spikes fused to its skeleton

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Paleontologists in the UK and Morocco have shed light on the appearance of the world's oldest armored dinosaur after they discovered rare fossils that reveal its bizarre, spike-covered body.

The species, called Spicomellus afer, the first ankylosaur found on the African continent, had lived more than 165 million years ago in during the Middle Jurassic epoch near the town of Boulemane in Morocco.

Now new remains discovered by Susannah Maidment, PhD, and Richard Butler, PhD, both professors at the University of Birmingham in the UK and co-authors of the study, showed it likely had a tail weapon more than 30 million years before any other ankylosaur.

Maidment who also works as a senior researcher at the Natural History Museum in London noted that the species also possessed a unique bony collar lined with spikes measuring up to 3.2 feet, sticking out from either side of its neck.

Bizarre neck spikes stun researchers

Even though the species was first described in 2021 based on a single rib bone, new analysis showed that the animal had bony spikes fused to and projecting from all of its ribs. This adaptation is unique among all known vertebrates.

Meanwhile, according to the team, the extinct animal's spikes measured at least 34 inches (87 centimeters) each. They were likely even longer in life, emerging from a bony collar that wrapped around its neck.

"To find such elaborate armor in an early ankylosaur changes our understanding of how these dinosaurs evolved," Maidmentstated. "It shows just how significant Africa's dinosaurs are, and how important it is to improve our understanding of them."

The species was covered in a variety of plates and spikes, spread across its entire body. These included 3.2-feet-long neck spikes and huge upwards-projecting spikes over the hips. It also featured a wide array of long, blade-like spikes, paired spike formations, and protective plates running down the shoulders.

"We've never seen anything like this in any animal before," Maidmentsaid. "It's particularly strange as this is the oldest known ankylosaur, so we might expect that a later species might have inherited similar features, but they haven't."

Spikes beyond survival

Butler described seeing the Spicomellus fossils for the first time as spine-tingling. "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," he continued.

The researchers suggest that the unique spikes were likely used for display, either to attract mates or intimidate rivals, rather than for defense. In contrast, later ankylosaurs developed simpler armor designed primarily for protection.

According to the team, as larger predators appeared during the Cretaceous, this shift may have favored more practical, defensive adaptations.

The tail weaponry is believed to be one early ankylosaurs feature that may have survived. Though the species' full tail hasn’t been found, fused vertebrae suggest it had a club-like structure, a trait thought to have evolved much later.

This points to key ankylosaur adaptations already being in place over 165 million years ago. The combination of a tail weapon and protective hip armor in Spicomellus suggests key ankylosaur features evolved far earlier than previously thought.

"This study is helping to drive forward Moroccan science," Driss Ouarhache, PhD, lead of the Moroccan team from the Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, concluded in a press release. "We've never seen dinosaurs like this before, and there's still a lot more this region has to offer.”

The study has been published in the journal Nature.