Protosiren

{{Short description|Extinct genus of aquatic mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|46|37}}{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1038/s41598-018-23355-w|title = First adequately-known quadrupedal sirenian from Eurasia (Eocene, Bay of Biscay, Huesca, northeastern Spain)|year = 2018|last1 = Díaz-Berenguer|first1 = Ester|last2 = Badiola|first2 = Ainara|last3 = Moreno-Azanza|first3 = Miguel|last4 = Canudo|first4 = José Ignacio|journal = Scientific Reports|volume = 8|issue = 1|page = 5127|pmid = 29572454|pmc = 5865116|bibcode = 2018NatSR...8.5127D}}

| image = Protosiren UMMNH.jpg

| image_caption = P. smithae skull, University of Michigan Museum of Natural History

| taxon = Protosiren

| authority = Abel, 1904

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = *Protosiren eothene Zalmout et al., 2003

• Protosiren fraasi (type) Abel, 1904
• Protosiren minima (Demarest, 1822)
• Protosiren sattaensisGingerich et al., 1995
• Protosiren smithae Domning and Gingerich, 1994

}}

File:Protosiren remains.png

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 (South Carolina,{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0095|title = A stratigraphically precise record of Protosiren (Protosirenidae, Sirenia) from North America|year = 2010|last1 = Beatty|first1 = Brian L.|last2 = Geisler|first2 = Jonathan|journal = Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen|volume = 258|issue = 2|pages = 185–194}} North Carolina and FloridaBryan, Jonathan R., Scott, Thomas M., Mean, Guy H., 2008. Roadside Geology of Florida. Mountain Press.), Africa (Egypt), Europe (France, Germany{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} and Hungary) and Asia (India and Pakistan).

So far, five species have been named. From comparative anatomy and chronological order,Gingerich P.D., Arif M, Bhatti M.A., Anwar M & Sanders W.J. (1997). "Basilosaurus drazindai and Basiloterus hussaini, New Archaeoceti (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Middle Eocene Drazinda Formation, with a Revised Interpretation of Ages of Whale-Bearing Strata in the Kirthar Group of the Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan)". Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 30(2): p. 55–81Gingerich P.D., Muhammad A, Bhatti M.A., Raza H.A. & Raza S.M. (1995). "Protosiren and Babiacetus (Mammalia, Sirenia and Cetacea) from the Middle Eocene Drazinda Formation, Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan)". Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology 29(12): p. 331–57. it has been suggested that P. fraasi, P. sattaensis and P. smithae represent an ancestor-descendant lineage. P. eothene is the oldest and smallest species.Zalmout I.S., Ul-Haq M. & Gingerich P.D. (2003). [https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/41257/C31-3.pdf?sequence=2 "New species of Protosiren (Mammalia, Sirenia) from the early middle Eocene of Balochistan (Pakistan)"]. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology 31(3): p. 79-87