Paleontologists have identified the oldest known fossils of an ankylosaur, a type of armored dinosaur, from Middle Jurassic deposits in Morocco. The discovery, detailed in a 2024 study in the journal Scientific Reports, pushes back the confirmed fossil record of this group by about 20 million years.
The fossils, including a rib and a vertebra, were found in the Boulahfa locality within the Middle Atlas Mountains. They date to approximately 168 million years ago, a period from which dinosaur fossils are globally rare. The remains have been assigned to a new species named *Spicomellus afer*.
Ankylosaurs were heavily armored, herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by bony plates and spikes. Previously, the earliest definitive ankylosaur fossils were from the Late Jurassic, around 150 million years ago. This Moroccan find indicates the group had already evolved and achieved a wide geographic distribution by the Middle Jurassic.
The discovery provides critical new evidence for understanding the early evolution and diversification of armored dinosaurs. It also highlights the importance of the North African fossil record in revealing previously unknown chapters of dinosaur history.
