''Dusisiren'' is an extinct genus of
dugong
The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest ...
related to the
Steller's sea cow
Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas'') is an extinction, extinct sirenian described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741. At that time, it was found only around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia; its range exte ...
that lived in the North Pacific during the
Neogene
The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
.
Paleobiology
''Dusisiren'' is a sirenian exemplar of the evolutionary theory of
punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a Scientific theory, theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolution, evol ...
. It evolved from a mangrove-eating ancestor to adapt to cold climates in the North Pacific by developing the capability to feed on kelp beds out on the open coast. The incipient modifications to the cervicals suggest that it was capable of maneuvering and feeding in high-energy environments of surf-swept coasts with deep, cold water.
[D. P. Domning. 1978. Sirenian evolution in the North Pacific Ocean. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 118:1-176]
Species
There are four recognized species of ''Dusisiren'':
*''Dusisiren jordani'' (Kellogg, 1925) (
type
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* ...
)
*''Dusisiren reinharti'' Domning, 1978
[
*''Dusisiren dewana'' Takahashi, Domning, and Saito, 1986
*''Dusisiren takasatensis'' Kobayashi, Horikawa, & Miyazaki, 1995][S. Kobayashi, H. Horikawa, and S. Miyazaki. 1995. A new species of Sirenia (Mammalia: Hydrodamalinae) from the Shiotsubo Formation in Takasato, Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(4):815-829]
See also
*Evolution of sirenians
Sirenia is the order (biology), order of Eutheria, placental mammals which comprises modern "sea cows" (manatees and the Dugong) and their extinct relatives. They are the only extant herbivorous marine mammals and the only group of herbivorous ...
Related genus
*''Hydrodamalis
''Hydrodamalis'' is a genus of extinct herbivorous sirenian marine mammals. It included the Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas''), the Cuesta sea cow (''Hydrodamalis cuestae''), and the Takikawa sea cow (''Hydrodamalis spissa''). The fossi ...
''
References
Hydrodamalinae
Miocene sirenians
Pliocene sirenians
Cenozoic mammals of Asia
Cenozoic mammals of North America
Prehistoric placental genera
Fossil taxa described in 1978
{{Paleo-sirenian-stub