The Sirenia, commonly referred to as sea cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae and Trichechidae with a total of four species. The Protosirenidae and Prorastomidae families are extinct. Sirenians are classified in the clade Paenungulata, alongside the elephants and the hyraxes, and evolved in the Eocene 50 million years ago (mya). The Dugongidae diverged from the Trichechidae in the late Eocene or early Oligocene.
Dugongidae is a family in the order of Sirenia. The family has one surviving species, the dugong, one recently extinct species, Steller's sea cow, and a number of extinct genera known from fossil records.
Trichechidae is a family of sirenians that includes all living manatees and several extinct genera.
The Desmostylia are an extinct order of aquatic mammals native to the North Pacific from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene (Tortonian). Desmostylians are the only known extinct order of marine mammals.
Basilosaurus is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehistoric whale known to science. Fossils attributed to the type species B. cetoides were discovered in the United States. They were originally thought to be of a giant reptile, hence the suffix "-saurus", Ancient Greek for "lizard". The animal was later found to be an early marine mammal, prompting attempts at renaming the creature, which failed as the rules of zoological nomenclature dictate using the original name given. Fossils were later found of the second species, B. isis, in 1904 in Egypt, Western Sahara, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, and Pakistan. Fossils have also been unearthed in the southeastern United States and Peru.
Paleoparadoxia is a genus of large, herbivorous aquatic mammals that inhabited the northern Pacific coastal region during the Miocene epoch. It ranged from the waters of Japan, to Alaska in the north, and down to Baja California, Mexico.
Behemotops is an extinct genus of herbivorous marine mammal. It lived from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) through the Late Oligocene, existing for approximately 10.9 million years. It is the most primitive known desmostylian, believed to be close to the ancestry of all other desmostylians.
Eotheroides is an extinct genus of Eocene sirenian. It is an early member of the family Dugongidae, which includes the extant dugong. Fossils have been found from Egypt, India, and Madagascar. Eotheroides was first described by Richard Owen in 1875 under the name Eotherium, which was replaced by the current name in 1899.
Metaxytherium is an extinct genus of dugong that lived from the Oligocene until the end of the Pliocene. Fossil remains have been found in Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Generally marine seagrass specialists, they inhabited the warm and shallow waters of the Paratethys, Mediterranean, Caribbean Sea and Pacific coastline. American species of Metaxytherium are considered to be ancestral to the North Pacific family Hydrodamalinae, which includes the giant Steller's sea cow.
Protosiren is an extinct early genus of the order Sirenia. Protosiren existed throughout the Lutetian to Priabonian stages of the Middle Eocene. Fossils have been found in the far-flung locations like the United States, Africa (Egypt), Europe and Asia.
Eosiren is an extinct genus of sea cow that lived during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene (Rupelian). Several fossils have been found in Egypt. It seems like the species E. abeli were contemporaneous with Protosiren and Eotheroides. like them, Eosiren closely resembled modern sirenians. It differs from them by having somewhat larger innominates and possess thigh bones.
Dusisiren is an extinct genus of dugong related to the Steller's sea cow that lived in the North Pacific during the Neogene.
Miosiren is an extinct genus of manatee from the Early Miocene of southeastern England (Suffolk) and Antwerp, Belgium.
Anomotherium is an extinct genus of manatee that lived in the shallow seas of what is now northern Germany. Its closest relative is Miosiren. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Bohlen and Doberg Formations of Germany.
Potamosiren is an extinct genus of manatee from the Middle Miocene (Laventan) Honda Group of Colombia.
Lentiarenium was an early sea cow from the Late Oligocene (Chattian) Linz-Melk Formation of Austria. Known since the mid 19th century, Lentiarenium was long considered to be a species of Halitherium until a 2016 analysis showed it to be distinct.
Italosiren is an extinct genus of early dugong from the Early Miocene (Aquitanian) Libano Formation in Northern Italy.
Kaupitherium is an extinct dugongid sea cow that lived during the Oligocene. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Alzey Formation of Germany. Inside its flippers were finger bones that did not stick out. Kaupitherium also had the residues of back legs, which did not show externally. However, it did have a basic femur, joined to a reduced pelvis. Kaupitherium also had elongated ribs, presumably to increase lung capacity to provide fine control of buoyancy.
Crenatosiren is an extinct genus of dugongid sirenian known from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The type and only known species is Crenatosiren olseni.
Stegosiren was an early sea cow from the Middle Oligocene of South Carolina, US. It shows a stage of halitheriine evolution more derived than that of the Old World early Oligocene Eosiren imenti and Halitherium schinzii.
