Paramacellodus


Paramacellodus is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizards from the Early Cretaceous of England the Late Jurassic of Portugal and the western United States. The type species, Paramacellodus oweni, was named in 1967 from the Purbeck Formation in Dorset, England. Additional material referable to a species of Paramacellodus, possibly P. oweni, has been described from the Morrison Formation, specifically in Como Bluff, Wyoming, and Dinosaur National Monument, Utah. Paramacellodus belongs to an extinct family of scincomorphs called Paramacellodidae, which spanned most of Laurasia during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and represented one of the earliest evolutionary radiations of lizards.