Salwasiren
| Salwasiren Temporal range: Early Miocene (Aquitanian),
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|---|---|
| Holotype of Salwasiren | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Sirenia |
| Family: | Dugongidae |
| Subfamily: | Dugonginae |
| Genus: | †Salwasiren Pyenson et al., 2025 |
| Species: | †S. qatarensis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Salwasiren qatarensis Pyenson et al., 2025
| |
Salwasiren is an extinct genus of dugongid sirenian mammal from the Early Miocene of the Dam Formation (Lower Al-Kharrara Member) of southwestern Qatar. The genus contains a single species, Salwasiren qatarensis.[1] The generic name, Salwasiren, is a reference to the Gulf of Salwah, while the specific name, qatarensis refers to Qatar, the country in which it was found.[2]
Discovery and naming
The fossils of Salwasiren were discovered in 2023–2024 when Pyenson and colleagues were prospecting fossil-bearing outcrops of the Dam Formation in southwestern Qatar. In 2025, Pyenson et al. named Salwasiren qatarensis as a new genus and species based on the discovered material.[1]
The holotype of S. qatarensis consists of fossilised remains of an incomplete cranium, a mandible, a maxillary second molar, a sternum, two scapulae, two humeri, an ilium, and a partial vertebral column.[1] An incomplete left incisor was also referred to this species.[1]
Classification
The cladogram below illustrates the results of the phylogenetic analysis done by Pyenson et al. (2025).[1]
| Sirenia |
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Palaeoenvironment
Salwasiren likely lived alongside multiple indeterminate odontocete cetaceans, turtles, teleosts and carcharhiniform sharks.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Pyenson, Nicholas D.; Sakal, Ferhan; LeBlanc, Jacques; Blundell, Jon; Klim, Katherine D.; Marshall, Christopher D.; Velez-Juarbe, Jorge; Wolfe, Katherine; Al-Naimi, Faisal (10 December 2025). "High abundance of Early Miocene sea cows from Qatar shows repeated evolution of seagrass ecosystem engineers in Eastern Tethys". PeerJ. 13 e20030. doi:10.7717/peerj.20030. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 12701702. PMID 41394419. Retrieved 9 January 2026 – via PubMed.
- ^ "New fossils in Qatar reveal a tiny sea cow hidden for 21 million years". Science Daily via The Smithsonian. 12 December 2025. Retrieved 9 January 2026.