Boulemane: Around 165 million years ago, a unique dinosaur lived on a coastal floodplain in what is now Morocco. Its body was covered in armor and elongated spikes, some nearly a meter long, unlike any known species.
According to Saudi Press Agency, researchers recently uncovered fossilized remains of this Jurassic-era dinosaur in the Atlas Mountains near Boulemane, Morocco, naming it "Spicomellus."
Spicomellus measured about four meters long and weighed between one and two tons. It is the oldest known member of the ankylosaurs, a group of tank-like armored dinosaurs that were short, slow-moving herbivores walking on four legs.
A paleontologist from the University of Birmingham and co-lead author of the study published in Nature Prof. Richard Butler remarked that Spicomellus's armor is "astonishingly strange and unlike that of any other dinosaur or animal."
He noted, "It had long, sharp spikes along its ribs-unique to any known animal-and collar-like spikes resembling golf clubs around its neck. This remarkable armor likely served as a defense against large carnivorous dinosaurs."