The new species of dinosaur is the punk rock version of an ankylosaurus

And we know for sure that armor was at the time, since we found the osteoderms derived from the skin that make up armor in Jurassic deposits. But with a little more than a coast and a handful of oral games to do, it was not really possible to say much more than that.

So far, it is. Because the new Spicomellus Remains extremely clearly shows that the armor of ankylosaurs has obtained less developed over time.

Small solid appearance tips found along the edges of subsequent ankylosaurs? Forget these. Spicomellus had a back that was probably bristling with sharper thorns, as well as larger ones along its exterior edges. Each coast seems to have generated up to six individual points. In a handful of places, these points have extended to almost a meter, more like spears than anything that needs to keep an attack closely.

And the older ones were along his neck. On the upper surface of its neck, several osteoderms merged to form a massive half-color of bone, then extended five individual or more points, each of the longest in the animal’s body. And there were three of these structures along the neck. “No known ankylosaurus has any condition close to the pairs of spines of thorns on the cervical half of Spicomellus“His discoverers note.

As if her appearance bristled on acid was not enough, the handles present on the tail vertebrae suggest that she also had an armed tail. All in all, the researchers summarize things by saying: “The new specimen reveals changes to extreme dermal armor unlike those of any other vertebrate, extinguished or existing, which fall far from the range of morphologies shown by other armored dinosaurs.”

Go hypotheses

Because it is so unusual, the characteristics of the skeleton are difficult to place in a neat family tree of ankylosaurs. The researchers conclude that certain details of his skeleton suggest Spicomellus Groups among ankylosaurs and conclude that it is probably an early branch of the main line. But without other significant examples of the line at that time, it is an extremely provisional conclusion. However, the alternative is that this thing is not linked only to other organizations that share at least some of its bizarre characteristics, which is a difficult idea to swallow.