Paralejurus

{{Short description|Genus of trilobites}} {{Automatic taxobox |fossil_range = {{fossil range|Late Silurian|Middle Devonian}} |image = Paralejurus_Sp.JPG |image_caption = ''Paralejurus'' sp. from Atlas Mountains, south of Morocco |taxon = Paralejurus |authority = Hawle and Corda, 1847 |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = }}

'''''Paralejurus''''' is a genus of trilobite from the Late Silurian to the Middle Devonian of Africa and Europe.

==Features== These animals, up to nine centimeters long, had an oval outline and a strongly arched exoskeleton. The cephalon has a smooth, detail-poor surface and an almost inconspicuous occipital bone behind the glabella in the transition to the thorax. The facet eyes have crescent-shaped lids. The thorax consists of ten narrow segments and a clearly arched and broad axial lobe ( rhachis ). The pygidium is very broad and denominate. The axillary lobe ends roundly and upwards. From this elevation, twelve to fourteen fine furrows extend radially. In contrast to the genus ''Scutellum'' with a pygidium with distinct furrows, in ''Paralejurus'' the pygidium was very smooth and strongly fused.

==References== * ''Fossils'' (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward (Page 65) * [https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=19647 ''Leonaspis''] in the Paleobiology Database

Category:Devonian trilobites of Africa Category:Styginidae Category:Corynexochida genera Category:Silurian trilobites Category:Devonian trilobites Category:Trilobites of Africa Category:Trilobites of Europe Category:Silurian first appearances Category:Middle Devonian genus extinctions