Paraguraleus was proposed as a subgenus of Guraleus with a Miocene fossil from Balcombe Bay, Victoria, as the genotype. The main character relied on for the separation is the protoconch, which is of two smooth whorls, large and inflated, the apex small and tilted, fortunately the other shell characters are consistent and such that members of the group can be easily recognised whether fossil or recent. The shape is fusiform, the aperture long and narrow, sometimes more than half of the total length of the shell, the sinus is sub-sutural, wide and shallow, the whorls rounded, the body whorl long, the sculpture consists primarily of rounded costae fading on the base, the spiral scupture is fine and sometimes weak.
The length of the body whorl and aperture seems to be the most variable character in the genus. In P. emina the aperture is three-fifths of the total length, but it ranges step by step down to such species as costata, in which it is only three-eighths.