Protosirenidae

{{Short description|Extinct family of aquatic mammals}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Middle Eocene|Late Eocene}} | image = Protosiren_remains.png | image_caption = The skeleton of ''Protosiren'' | taxon = Protosirenidae | authority = Sickenberg, 1934 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = *''Ashokia'' *''Dakhlasiren''<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zouhri |first1=S. |last2=Zalmout |first2=I. S. |last3=Gingerich |first3=P. D. |year=2022 |title=New protosirenid (Mammalia, Sirenia) in the late Eocene sea cow assemblage of southwestern Morocco |journal=Journal of African Earth Sciences |volume=189 |article-number=104516 |doi=10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2022.104516 |bibcode=2022JAfES.18904516Z |s2cid=247421975 }}</ref> *''Libysiren'' *''Protosiren'' }}

'''Protosirenidae''' is an extinct primitive family of the order Sirenia.<ref>D. P. Domning, G. J. Heal, and S. Sorbi. 2017. ''Libysiren sickenbergi'', gen. et sp. nov.: a new sirenian (Mammalia, Protosirenidae) from the middle Eocene of Libya. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 37(2):[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02724634.2017.1299158 e1299158]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=43290 | title=Fossilworks: Protosirenidae }}</ref>

Protosirenids are thought to have been amphibious quadrupeds, meaning that they spent their time both on land and in the water and had four legs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://cetus.ucsd.edu/sio133/PDF/BertaChap5.pdf|title=Sirenian and Other Marine Mammals: Evolution and Systematics|work=Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology |edition=2nd| last1=Berta|first1=Annalisa |last2=Sumich |first2=James |last3=Kovacs |first3=Kit |year=2005 |isbn=9780120885527 |pages=89–110|publisher=Elsevier Science |access-date=15 July 2018}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Paleontology}} *Dugongidae *Evolution of sirenians *Manatee

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36896 ''Protosiren''] at The Paleobiology Database.

Category:Eocene sirenians Category:Prehistoric mammal families