Sirenia

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 three species.

Sirenia

File:Underwater photography of mammal manatee.jpg (Ramos Keith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) File:I432^cimgpsh ori… · Public Domain · 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
Also called
sirenianPBDB
Sits inside
TethytheriaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
aquaticPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 940 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 940 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 216 of 940 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 125 of 940 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 468 of 940 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 77 of 940 occurrencesPleistocene — about 31 of 940 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 7 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 16 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 16 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 25 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 47 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 52 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 50 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 24 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 24 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 25 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 30 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 30 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 36 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 67 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 68 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 76 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 64 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 63 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 58 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 52 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 52 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 52 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

940 occurrences of Sirenia on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

940 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

224 formations

Birket Qarun — 29.32°N, 30.07°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.04°EBirket Qarun — 30.03°N, 29.28°EBirket Qarun — 29.57°N, 30.56°EBirket Qarun — 29.56°N, 30.51°EBirket Qarun — 29.62°N, 30.70°EPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.20°S, 47.17°WPirabas — 1.21°S, 47.40°WPirabas — 0.70°S, 47.51°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WBurgeschleinitz — 48.63°N, 15.78°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.66°N, 15.79°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.60°N, 15.86°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.74°N, 15.90°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.76°N, 15.95°ECalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 37.66°N, 77.11°WCalvert — 38.74°N, 76.56°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.80°WMonterey — 37.90°N, 122.72°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WPeace River — 27.91°N, 81.99°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WPeace River — 27.70°N, 81.85°WPeace River — 28.67°N, 80.91°WPeace River — 27.78°N, 81.94°WPeace River — 29.68°N, 82.37°WChandler Bridge — 32.97°N, 80.15°WChandler Bridge — 32.85°N, 80.40°WChandler Bridge — 32.85°N, 80.08°WChandler Bridge — 33.01°N, 80.06°WChandler Bridge — 32.89°N, 80.00°WChandler Bridge — 32.93°N, 79.83°WCluj Limestone — 46.78°N, 22.60°ECluj Limestone — 46.78°N, 23.52°ECluj Limestone — 47.32°N, 23.74°ECluj Limestone — 46.65°N, 23.55°ECluj Limestone — 46.76°N, 23.57°ESahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°ESahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°ESamlat — 23.38°N, 16.01°WSamlat — 23.34°N, 16.05°WSamlat — 23.50°N, 15.98°ESamlat — 23.35°N, 16.04°ESamlat — 23.33°N, 16.06°ESanta Margarita — 37.06°N, 122.04°WSanta Margarita — 37.01°N, 122.01°WSanta Margarita — 37.07°N, 122.05°WSanta Margarita — 35.45°N, 120.28°WSanta Margarita — 35.13°N, 118.82°WSanta Margarita — 36.97°N, 122.08°WAlzey — 49.78°N, 7.99°EAlzey — 49.83°N, 7.72°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.58°N, 30.57°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.52°N, 30.63°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.57°N, 30.55°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.69°EHarudi — 23.48°N, 68.75°EHarudi — 23.65°N, 68.66°EHarudi — 23.73°N, 68.74°EKhari Nadi — 23.54°N, 68.95°EKhari Nadi — 23.40°N, 68.80°EKhari Nadi — 23.37°N, 68.91°ETupelo Bay — 33.21°N, 80.45°WTupelo Bay — 33.35°N, 80.26°WTupelo Bay — 33.33°N, 79.67°WSan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WSan Mateo — 33.26°N, 117.30°WAshley — 32.97°N, 80.20°WAshley — 32.84°N, 80.39°WAshley — 32.84°N, 80.07°WAshley — 32.87°N, 80.04°WAshley — 32.83°N, 79.99°WLeitha — 47.81°N, 16.63°ELeitha — 48.01°N, 16.78°ELeitha — 47.83°N, 16.45°ELeitha — 47.75°N, 16.68°ELeitha — 47.97°N, 16.61°ETorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WTorreya — 30.60°N, 84.58°WCastle Hayne — 34.63°N, 77.68°WCastle Hayne — 34.36°N, 77.87°WCastle Hayne — 34.36°N, 77.82°WCastle Hayne — 35.01°N, 77.57°WCastle Hayne — 35.32°N, 77.33°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.28°WUrumaco — 11.18°N, 70.23°WParachucla — 30.34°N, 82.78°WParachucla — 30.33°N, 82.73°WYsidro — 26.23°N, 112.50°WYsidro — 26.35°N, 112.00°WYsidro — 27.17°N, 113.28°WYsidro — 26.29°N, 112.45°W

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The named rock units Sirenia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 200 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 405 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sirenia and its relatives

Miocene

Where Sirenia and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,833 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 794 sites for Sirenia, and this reads 240 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

379 references

Each of the 940 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. 367 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 content1

Picture of Sirenia

Credit
File:Underwater photography of mammal manatee.jpg (Ramos Keith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) File:I432^cimgpsh ori…
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Sirenia was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itTethytheria through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Illiger 1811)