Discovery of the most "unusual" dinosaur fossil in history

Scientists have just announced the discovery of the oldest fossil of a dinosaur with "amazingly strange" armor and spikes in the Atlas Mountains, which lived about 165 million years ago during the Jurassic period.

Scientists recently announced the discovery of the oldest known fossil of an armored dinosaur, with "amazingly strange" armor and spikes, in the Atlas Mountains, near the town of Boulemane, Morocco.

This dinosaur, named Spicomellus, lived about 165 million years ago during the Jurassic period, on coastal plains. The species was about 4 meters long, weighed 1-2 tons, and was classified as ankylosaur - plant-eating dinosaurs, moving slowly on 4 legs and distinguished by thick armor.

The most striking differences in Spicomellus were its armored spines, up to a meter long, that grew along its ribs, along with a collar of bony plates and sharp, golf-club-length spines. In addition, its back was covered in short spikes, its hips had large armor plates with pairs of protruding spikes, and its tail, which likely carried a club- or spike-like weapon—based on the characteristic fused caudal vertebrae—suggested that the ankylosaur’s “tail weapon” appeared 30 million years earlier than previously thought.

Scientists believe that these "oversized" structures were not only for defense against carnivorous dinosaurs, but could also have been a display tool in mating or territorial competition, similar to deer antlers or peacock tails today.

It is worth noting that in many dinosaurs, early members tend to be simpler in form than their later descendants. But Spicomellus was the opposite: it possessed the most elaborate armor in ankylosaur history, while later Cretaceous species retained more defensive armor.

According to the researchers, this discovery not only expands understanding of the evolution of ankylosaur - a group of dinosaurs that successfully existed for more than 100 million years, but also shows the morphological diversity of herbivorous dinosaurs in the early stages.

This group coexisted with stegosaurs, which also featured spiny back plates and tails, but ankylosaurs outlasted them, until the giant meteorite that ended the dinosaur era 66 million years ago./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phat-hien-hoa-thach-khung-long-di-biet-nhat-lich-su-post1058504.vnp