Overview

• An international team led by Susannah Maidment and Richard Butler reports Spicomellus afer in Nature from the Middle Atlas near Boulemane, Morocco.
• The partial skeleton preserves spines fused directly to the ribs and a robust cervical collar with lateral spines preserved at 87 cm, estimated at roughly one meter in life.
• Dated to the Middle Jurassic, the species is identified as the earliest known ankylosaur and the first formally documented from Africa.
• Researchers infer a defensive tail structure from fused caudal vertebrae, raising the possibility of a club-like tail despite the tip not being preserved.
• The study builds on a 2021 rib fragment verified by CT scan and expanded by 2023 fieldwork, with prepared fossils curated in Fez.