Paramacellodus is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizards from the Early Cretaceous of England and France, and the Late Jurassic of Portugal and the western United States. The type species, Paramacellodus oweni, was named in 1967 from the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) Purbeck Group 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.[1] An indeterminate species is known from the Berriasian aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in France.[2] 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.[3]
| Paramacellodus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | †Paramacellodidae |
| Genus: | †Paramacellodus Hoffstetter, 1967 |
| Type species | |
| †Paramacellodus oweni Hoffstetter, 1967
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See also
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References
edit- ^ Foster, J. (2007). "Table 2.1: Fossil Vertebrates of the Morrison Formation." Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. pp. 58–59.
- ^ Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.. Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal turnover at the J/K boundary. Geodiversitas, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris, In press. ffhal-03264773f
- ^ Evans, S.E.; Chure, D.J. (1998). "Paramacellodid lizard skulls from the Jurassic Morrison Formation at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (1): 99–114. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011037.
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