Paropsonema

{{Short description|Extinct genus of Cambrian animals}}

{{automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Devonian|earliest=Silurian}}

| display_parents = 4

| taxon = Paropsonema

| authority = Clarke 1900

| type_species = †P. cryptophya

| type_species_authority = Clarke 1900

| subdivision = * †P. cryptophya {{small|Clarke 1900}}

• ? †P. mirabile {{small|Chapman 1926}}

| subdivision_ref = {{cite web|title=†Discophyllum mirabile Chapman 1926 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=387164 |access-date=29 December 2024}}

}}

Paropsonema is an eldonioid known from the Devonian of upstate New York and (if P. mirabile is a species of Paropsonema rather than Discophyllum) the Silurian of southern Australia. It is the latest-surviving known member of the Eldonioidea and Cambroernida.{{harvnb|Schroeder|Paterson|Brock|2018|pages=80–81}}

A specimen described in 2018 may represent an additional species, but has been tentatively assigned to P. cryptohya;{{harvnb|Hagadorn|Allmon|2018|page=213}} it represents the youngest described paropsonemid.{{harvnb|Hagadorn|Allmon|2018|page=208}}

The species Discophyllum mirabile has been thought to be closer to Paropsonema than to the sole previously-described species of Discophyllum, D. peltata.{{harvnb|Zhu|Zhao|Chen|2002|page=180}} As a result, sources treat it as Paropsonema mirabile. Conversely, at least one worker has treated P. cryptophya as a member of Discophyllum, D. cryptophya, although this has not been followed by later authors.{{harvnb|Hagadorn|Allmon|2018|page=212}} Regardless, Paropsonema and Discophyllum are grouped together informally as "paropsonemids."