Protosiren

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.

Protosiren

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ProtosirenidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Sirenia
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Sirenia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sirenia

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Eocene — about 23 of 23 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 23 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences45–45 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–37 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences35–35 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41.03 Mya37.71 Mya48.6 Mya33.4 Mya

23 occurrences of Protosiren on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

23 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Drazinda — 30.78°N, 70.46°EDrazinda — 30.90°N, 70.23°EAvon Park — 29.25°N, 82.73°WAvon Park — 29.01°N, 82.65°WInglis — 28.91°N, 82.39°WInglis — 28.99°N, 82.35°WCastle Hayne — 34.36°N, 77.87°WCastle Hayne — 35.01°N, 77.57°WTupelo Bay — 33.35°N, 80.26°WTupelo Bay — 33.21°N, 80.45°WBirket Qarun — 29.30°N, 30.06°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.69°EHabib Rahi — 30.09°N, 69.79°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EMokattam — 30.36°N, 31.27°EWadi Rayyan — 29.24°N, 30.45°EMidawara — 29.15°N, 30.04°EFürstenau — 52.59°N, 7.22°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Protosiren has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Protosiren and its relatives

Eocene

Where Protosiren and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

161 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Protosiren, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 23 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Protosiren

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProtosirenidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Abel 1904