Caribosiren

Caribosiren; Temporal range:
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Sirenia
Family:	Dugongidae
Genus:	†Caribosiren; Reinhart, 1959
Species
	C. turneri Reinhart, 1959 (type);

Caribosiren is an extinct genus of afrotherian mammal which existed in what is now Puerto Rico during the Chattian stage of the Oligocene epoch. Fossils have been recovered from the San Sebastián Limestone.^[1]

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology

Caribosiren, as suggested by its lack of tusks and its extreme snout deflection of 75°, was a dietary specialist that ate seagrass leaves and small rhizomes.^[2]

References

^ Reinhart, R. H. (1959). "A review of the Sirenia and Desmostylia". Systematic Zoology. 25 (4): 344–351. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.820.5979.
^ Domning, D. P. (1 February 2001). "Sirenians, seagrasses, and Cenozoic ecological change in the Caribbean". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Cenozoic Palaeobiology: The Last 65 Million Years of Biotic Stasis and Change. 166 (1): 27–50. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(00)00200-5. ISSN 0031-0182. Retrieved 3 November 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.

[1] Reinhart, R. H. (1959). "A review of the Sirenia and Desmostylia". Systematic Zoology. 25 (4): 344–351. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.820.5979.

[2] Domning, D. P. (1 February 2001). "Sirenians, seagrasses, and Cenozoic ecological change in the Caribbean". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Cenozoic Palaeobiology: The Last 65 Million Years of Biotic Stasis and Change. 166 (1): 27–50. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(00)00200-5. ISSN 0031-0182. Retrieved 3 November 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.

[1]

[2]