Overview

• Newly described partial skeleton of Spicomellus afer from near Boulemane places the first African ankylosaur at roughly 165 million years old.
• Fossils reveal meter-long neck spikes and spines fused to every rib, a configuration not seen in any other vertebrate.
• Fused tail vertebrae form a handle indicating a clubbed tail evolved more than 30 million years earlier than previously documented.
• Researchers estimate the quadrupedal herbivore was about 4 meters long and weighed up to around two tonnes.
• The specimen was recovered with Moroccan partners after flood exposure, is now curated in Fez, and scientists warn that parts have surfaced on commercial markets.