Morocco Discovery Reveals Oldest Known Armored Dinosaur with Tail Weapon

Scientists have discovered the earliest known ankylosaur, Spicomellus afer, in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. The 165-million-year-old fossil, described in Nature Ecology & Evolution, shows extreme armor including rib spikes and a bony neck collar. It also possessed a possible tail weapon, pushing the origin of such features back by 30 million years. Researchers said its formidable defenses, including a spike nearly a meter long, made it a creature "you wouldn’t want to cross."