‘Strangest’ dinosaur covered in spiked armoury: scientists

A dinosaur dubbed one of the “strangest” ever boasted an elaborate armoury of long bony spikes and a tail weapon, according to findings published in the science journal Nature.

Spicomellus, which roamed the earth 165 million years ago, is the world’s oldest ankylosaur, a herbivorous group of dinosaurs known for their tank-like bodies.

Palaeontologists’ image of Spicomellus was based on a single rib bone found in Morocco in 2019.

But newly discovered remains have helped scientists form a clearer picture of the unusual dinosaur.

The fossils showed it had bony spikes fused onto all of its ribs — something never seen before in any other vertebrate species living or extinct, according to the research published Wednesday.

Richard Butler, a professor at the University of Birmingham and the p