Troodon Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 I attended the 2019 Tucson show and a Moroccan dealer had a strange partial spike for sale. Purchased it and thought it might be ankylosaurian. Well a paper was just published that identifies it as the oldest Ankylosaur known, Spicomellus afer. From the El Mers III formation where the oldest Stegosaurus was found. It differs from all other known armoured dinosaurs that these spikes are fused on the dorsal ribs, pretty cool critter. Paper (paywalled but it opened up for me) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01553-6 Articles https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/bizarre-armoured-spikes-belong-to-oldest-ankylosaur-ever-discove.ht https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58657862 https://news.sky.com/story/life-finds-a-way-unusual-fossil-found-in-morocco-is-new-species-of-dinosaur-12415509 Photo from @Dinocollector who asked about this one last year 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Wow that’s interesting and a real nice piece too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilhunter21 Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Awesome piece! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD1991 Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Two ankylosaurs have been described from the Middle Jurassic of Laurasia, Sarcolestes from Oxfordshire, southern England, and Tianchiasaurus from Xinjiang, China. The lead author of the paper describing Spicomellus also described to science the oldest African stegosaur Adratiklit, also from Morocco. It's no wonder that the fossil record of thyreophorans from the Jurassic of Gondwana is poor, and it's possible that stegosaurs did not survive past the Albian stage of the Cretaceous because their armor pattern was insufficient to protect them from giant theropods, unlike the heavy armor plating of ankylosaurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinocollector Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Hello! Thank you so much @Troodon I was busy and I see the post today. I have 2 spikes from Morocco, one could be ankylosaur and other stegosaur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 26 minutes ago, Dinocollector said: Hello! Thank you so much @Troodon I was busy and I see the post today. I have 2 spikes from Morocco, one could be ankylosaur and other stegosaur Very nice. Yes the longer one does look like a Stego, very cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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