{{Short description|Extinct genus of arthropod}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Cambrian Stage 3}} | image = 玉溪市博物馆-寒武纪早期-云南澄江-膜状谜虫 Saperion glumaceum.jpg | image_caption = Fossil of ''Saperion glumaceum'' in Yuxi Museum | display_parents = 3 | taxon = Saperion | authority = Hou, Ramsköld & Bergström, 1991 | type_species = '''''Saperion glumaceum''''' | type_species_authority = Hou, Ramsköld & Bergström, 1991 | subdivision_ranks = | subdivision = }} thumb|diagrammatic reconstruction '''''Saperion''''' is an extinct genus of trilobite-like arthropod. It lived during the late Atdabanian stage,<ref name="Sepkoski">{{cite journal | last = Sepkoski| first = Jack| title = A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Trilobita entry)| journal = Bulletins of American Paleontology| volume = 364|page=560| year = 2002| url = http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=307&rank=class| access-date = 2008-01-12 }}</ref> which lasted from 521 to 514 million years ago during the early part of the Cambrian Period. It was found in the Maotianshan Shales of Yunnan, China.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Xianguang|first1=Hou|last2=Ramskold|first2=Lars|last3=Bergstrom|first3=Jan|date=October 1991|title=Composition and preservation of the Chengjiang fauna -a Lower Cambrian soft-bodied biota|journal=Zoologica Scripta|language=en|volume=20|issue=4|pages=395–411|doi=10.1111/j.1463-6409.1991.tb00303.x|s2cid=85077111|issn=0300-3256}}</ref> Similar to the closely related ''Skioldia'' and ''Tegopelte'', the head shield and trunk tergites were fused into a single plate. There are about 19 furrows indicating the original trunk segments. a small anterior sclerite articulated to the front of its head.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hou |first1=Xianguang |title=Arthropods of the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna, southwest China |last2=Bergström |first2=Jan |date=1997 |publisher=Scandinavian Univ. Press |isbn=978-82-00-37693-4 |series=Fossils and Strata |location=Oslo}}</ref> A pair of antennae and lateral eyes located ventrally behind the anterior sclerite, lateral to the hypostome.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Edgecombe |first1=Gregory D. |last2=Ramsköld |first2=Lars |date=March 1999 |title=Relationships of Cambrian Arachnata and the systematic position of Trilobita |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/relationships-of-cambrian-arachnata-and-the-systematic-position-of-trilobita/208B20094C20C38E688044F130A1CC04 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |language=en |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=263–287 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000027761 |bibcode=1999JPal...73..263E |s2cid=84029615 |issn=0022-3360|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Saperion'' reached 151 mm in length and had nearly 25 pairs of biramous limbs for walking.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Nicholas J. Minter, M. Gabriela Mángano & Jean-Bernard Caron |year=2011 |title=Skimming the surface with Burgess Shale arthropod locomotion |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume= 279 |issue=1733 |pages= 1613–1620|doi=10.1098/rspb.2011.1986 |pmid=22072605 |pmc=3282348}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Artiopoda}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q11305050}}
Category:Cambrian life Category:Artiopoda Category:Fossil taxa described in 1991 Category:Monotypic artiopod genera