Parapeytoia

Parapeytoia is a genus of Cambrian arthropod. The type and only described species is Parapeytoia yunnanensis, which lived over 518 million years ago (Cambrian Stage 3) in the Maotianshan shales of Yunnan, China. Unidentified fossils from the same genus have also been discovered from the nearby Wulongqing Formation (Cambrian Stage 4).

== Classification == Initially, Parapeytoia was interpreted as a radiodont ("anomalocaridid" at that time) dinocaridid with legs alongside Cucumericrus, purported to be an indicator that radiodonts might have legs underneath their body flaps in general, comparable to Pambdelurion. With the combination of megacheiran and presumably radiodont features (see text), it was also suggested to be an intermediate form between the two taxa. However, later studies revealed it was most likely nested within megacheira, and the group as a whole was no longer thought to have originated from radiodonts. Within megacheira, Parapeytoia was possibly closest to the multisegmented (with over 20 trunk segments) taxa like Fortiforceps and Jianfengia, united under the family Jianfengiidae.