‘Punk Rock’ Dinosaur Causes Radical Rethink of Evolution

A newly discovered dinosaur, described by scientists as the “punk rocker” of its time due to its bizarre, meter-long neck spikes, is forcing paleontologists to radically rethink the evolution of armored dinosaurs. The species, named Spicomellus afer, was discovered in Morocco and lived 165 million years ago, making it the oldest-known ankylosaur in existence. But its elaborate, spiky bone-armor has completely upended theories about the ankylosaur’s evolution. “If you had asked me what I would have expected the oldest known ankylosaur to look like I would have said something with quite simple armor,” said co-leader of the research, Professor Richard Butler from the University of Birmingham. “Instead, we have an animal bristling with spikes like a hedgehog, the most bizarre armor that we’ve