Spicomellus: The Strangest Armored Dinosaur in History – Africa’s “Godzilla” with Meter-Long Spikes

In 2025, paleontologists unveiled one of the most bizarre dinosaurs ever discovered: Spicomellus afer, the oldest known ankylosaur and the first from Africa. Found in the Middle Atlas Mountains near Boulemane, Morocco, this 165-million-year-old creature sported an unparalleled array of armor that makes it look more like a fantasy monster than a real animal.

The new fossils, described in Nature (August 2025), reveal that Spicomellus was covered head-to-tail in extreme bony spikes. A dramatic “collar” of fused spikes around its neck included individual spikes up to 87 cm (34 inches) long — some approaching one meter. Additional mᴀssive spikes projected from its hips and sides, while a tail weapon and blade-like osteoderms lined its flanks. These spikes were fused directly to the bones — a condition unknown in any other animal, living or extinct.

Roughly 4 meters (13 feet) long and weighing 1–2 tons, Spicomellus was a squat, four-legged plant-eater. Its extravagant armor likely served both defense and display purposes. The discovery rewrites ankylosaur evolution, showing that the group’s characteristic tail club and heavy armor evolved much earlier than previously thought, already present in the Middle Jurᴀssic.

First identified in 2021 from a single spiked rib, the 2025 finds transformed our understanding of this “spiky collar from Africa.” Researchers led by Susannah Maidment (Natural History Museum, London) and Richard Butler (University of Birmingham) describe it as “jaw-droppingly weird” and “totally unlike anything else we have ever seen.”

As of mid-2026, Spicomellus remains the most extreme armored dinosaur known — a real-life Godzilla that roamed ancient Morocco’s coastal floodplains, bristling with spikes that would have made any predator think twice.