Paramacellodus is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizards from the Early Cretaceous of England the Late Jurassic of the western United States. The type species, P. 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.
In popular culture[]
- Paramacellodus appeared from time to time in the franchise of The Land Before Time.
- In Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs special, Big Al as a Juvenile was hunting on his own to find some food. Later, he spots a Paramacellodus on the branch of a tree. Then Al strikes & ate the lizard whole. The lizard was a real Chinese Water Dragon playing a minor role as a Paramacellodus.
- a Paramacellodus was seen briefly in Longhair and doubledome after the site of a herd of Woolly mammoth.
- It also appears in Dinosaur Train "Elmer Visits the Desert" When The Pteranodon Family & Elmer Elasmosaurus meets a Paramacellodus named Percy.
- Paramacellodus also made It's 1st Big Screen appearance in the Disney PIXAR Film The Good Dinosaur.