''Bharatisiren'' is an extinct genus of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

which existed in what is now

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

(Aquitanian) period.

Taxonomy

The type species of ''Bharatisiren'', ''B. kachchhebsis'', was originally named as a species of ''

Metaxytherium ''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 ...

'', ''M. kachchhebsis'', by Bajpai et al. (1987) from the Aquitanian-age Khari Nadi Formation of western India. Bajpai and Domning (1997) however, judged ''M. kachchhensis'' generically distinct enough from the ''Metaxytherium'' type species to warrant its own genus, ''Bharatisiren''.S. Bajpai and D. P. Domning. 1997. A new dugongine sirenian from the early Miocene of India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1):219-228.

References

Dugongidae Miocene sirenians Fossil taxa described in 1997 Extinct animals of India Prehistoric placental genera {{Paleo-sirenian-stub