Parapaleomerus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of arthropods}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Taxobox

| name = Parapaleomerus

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Lower Cambrian}}

| image = Parapaleomerus sinensis restoration.png

| image_caption = Restoration of P. sinensis without eyes, 11th segment and appendages omitted. Telson hypothetical.

| regnum = Animalia

| phylum = Arthropoda

| unranked_subphylum = Arachnomorpha

| ordo = †Strabopida

| familia = †Strabopidae

| genus = †Parapaleomerus

| genus_authority = Hou et al., 1999

| type_species = †Parapaleomerus sinensis

| type_species_authority = Hou et al., 1999

}}

Parapaleomerus is a genus of strabopid of small size found in Chengjiang biota, China. It contains one species, P. sinensis. Unlike the other members of Strabopida, Parapaleomerus lacks dorsal eyes and only possesses ten trunk tergites. The telson has been described as trapezoidal. All the trunk tergites are straight and increasingly curve backwards abaxially from T4–10.{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263298378|title=Notchia weugi gen. et sp. nov.: A new short-headed arthropod from the Weeks Formation Konservat-Lagerstatte (Cambrian; Utah)|pages=351–357|doi=10.1017/S0016756814000375|journal=Geological Magazine|year=2014|volume=152|issue=2|author=Rudy Lerosey-Aubril|s2cid=83671216}} Specimens of Parapaleomerus sinesis are typically dorsoventrally compressed. The exoskeleton of P. sinensis has a semi-elliptical head shield that lacks any indication of the presence of dorsal eyes. The largest specimen described is recorded as 9.2 cm long, with a maximum width of 9 cm.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X61RDgAAQBAJ|title=The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life|last1=Xian-guang|first1=Hou|author-link1=Hou Xian-guang|last2=Siveter|first2=David J.|last3=Siveter|first3=Derek J.|last4=Aldridge|first4=Richard J.|last5=Pei-Yun|first5=Cong|last6=Gabbott|first6=Sarah E.|last7=Xiao-Ya|first7=Ma|last8=Purnell|first8=Mark A.|last9=Williams|first9=Mark|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|edition=2|isbn=9781118896310}}