Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.

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 fam...

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Autores principales:	Julien Benoit, Sylvain Adnet, Essid El Mabrouk, Hayet Khayati, Mustapha Ben Haj Ali, Laurent Marivaux, Gilles Merzeraud, Samuel Merigeaud, Monique Vianey-Liaud, Rodolphe Tabuce
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5bf29718e493493cbbfd84605963ed57
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5bf29718e493493cbbfd84605963ed572021-11-18T08:01:10ZCranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0054307https://doaj.org/article/5bf29718e493493cbbfd84605963ed572013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23342128/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Sea 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.Julien BenoitSylvain AdnetEssid El MabroukHayet KhayatiMustapha Ben Haj AliLaurent MarivauxGilles MerzeraudSamuel MerigeaudMonique Vianey-LiaudRodolphe TabucePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 1, p e54307 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Julien Benoit Sylvain Adnet Essid El Mabrouk Hayet Khayati Mustapha Ben Haj Ali Laurent Marivaux Gilles Merzeraud Samuel Merigeaud Monique Vianey-Liaud Rodolphe Tabuce Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
description	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.
format	article
author	Julien Benoit Sylvain Adnet Essid El Mabrouk Hayet Khayati Mustapha Ben Haj Ali Laurent Marivaux Gilles Merzeraud Samuel Merigeaud Monique Vianey-Liaud Rodolphe Tabuce
author_facet	Julien Benoit Sylvain Adnet Essid El Mabrouk Hayet Khayati Mustapha Ben Haj Ali Laurent Marivaux Gilles Merzeraud Samuel Merigeaud Monique Vianey-Liaud Rodolphe Tabuce
author_sort	Julien Benoit
title	Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
title_short	Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
title_full	Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
title_fullStr	Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
title_full_unstemmed	Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.
title_sort	cranial remain from tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of sirenia (mammalia, afrotheria) in africa.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/5bf29718e493493cbbfd84605963ed57
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Cranial remain from Tunisia provides new clues for the origin and evolution of Sirenia (Mammalia, Afrotheria) in Africa.

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