Overview

• Researchers led by Susannah Maidment describe multiple bones of Spicomellus afer from Morocco's Middle Atlas, allowing the first reconstruction of the species once known only from a single rib.
• The Jurassic animal bore dense, spiky projections from neck to tail, including five neck spines with at least two nearing one meter in length.
• The study estimates a body length of roughly four meters and a mass of about 1.5 to 2 tonnes.
• The fossil includes a tail-tip weapon, which the authors argue pushes the origin of such armaments in ankylosaurs back by around 30 million years.
• The team proposes the extravagant neck spikes were likely shaped by sexual selection for display or combat rather than solely for defense.