Name: Parapaleomerus
sinensis
Phylum
Arthropoda
Geological
Time: Early Cambrian (~525 million years ago)
Size: 28
mm long and 17 mm across on a 38 mm by 31 mm matrix
Fossil
Site: Chengjiang Maotianshan Shale, Quiongzhusi Section, Yu’anshan
Member, Heilinpu Formation, Mafang Village, Haikou County, Kunming, Yunnan
Province, China
|  This
exceptionally rare arthropod is known as Parapaleomerus sinensis.
The species was known from
only THREE examples as of the publication of Hou’s book in
2004. Parapaleomerus
is similar to Paleomerus (hence the name), and may indeed be the
same genus. Paleomerus is regarded by some researchers as a basal
chelicerate.
Parapaleomerus sinensis has morphological characteristics similar
to Burgess Shale and Marjum Formation (Utah) arachnomorphs Emeraldella
and Molaria, but does not possess the long telson of those taxa.
Since only the shell is known, the appendages in the artist’s
rendering above are conjecture.
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