ArticlePloS one2013
Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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10 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Persistent body size bias in the fossil record of Cenozoic North American mammals.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Convergent evolution in Afrotheria and non-afrotherians demonstrates high evolvability of the mammalian inner ear.Nature communications · 2024Article
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- Neurosensory anatomy of Varanopidae and its implications for early synapsid evolution.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Petrosal and bony labyrinth morphology of the stem paenungulate mammal (Paenungulatomorpha) Ocepeia daouiensis from the Paleocene of Morocco.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Article
- The evolutionary history of manatees told by their mitogenomes.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- First adequately-known quadrupedal sirenian from Eurasia (Eocene, Bay of Biscay, Huesca, northeastern Spain).Scientific reports · 2018Article
- The ear region of earliest known elephant relatives: new light on the ancestral morphotype of proboscideans and afrotherians.Journal of anatomy · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sea cows (manatees, dugongs) are the only living marine mammals to feed solely on aquatic plants. Unlike whales or dolphins (Cetacea), the earliest evolutionary history of sirenians is poorly documented, and limited to a few fossils including skulls and skeletons of two genera composing the stem family of Prorastomidae (Prorastomus and Pezosiren). Surprisingly, these fossils come from the Eocene of Jamaica, while stem Hyracoidea and Proboscidea--the putative sister-groups to Sirenia--are recorded in Africa as early as the Late Paleocene. So far, the historical biogeography of early Sirenia has remained obscure given this paradox between phylogeny and fossil record. Here we use X-ray microtomography to investigate a newly discovered sirenian petrosal from the Eocene of Tunisia. This fossil represents the oldest occurrence of sirenians in Africa. The morphology of this petrosal is more primitive than the Jamaican prorastomids' one, which emphasizes the basal position of this new African taxon within the Sirenia clade. This discovery testifies to the great antiquity of Sirenia in Africa, and therefore supports their African origin. While isotopic analyses previously suggested sirenians had adapted directly to the marine environment, new paleoenvironmental evidence suggests that basal-most sea cows were likely restricted to fresh waters.
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