Paladin is a genus of trilobite which lived 354-259 Ma, during the Late Paleozoic era; more specifically, during the Carboniferous and Permian periods. It was widespread: fossils have been discovered in what are now East Asia, Europe and North America. The genus was erected in 1936 by . The name derives from the paladins, the semi-legendary twelve foremost knights of Emperor Charlemagne (748-814). Paladin was a fast-moving low-level epifaunal deposit feeder; that is, it scavenged at the bottom of shallow marine or brackish waters.