Kingdom Animalia Family Dugongidae Genus Metaxytherium Order Manatee | Class Mammalia Phylum Chordata Rank Species | |
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Similar Metaxytherium, Manatee, Rytiodus, Halitherium, Dugongidae | ||
Metaxytherium subapenninum is an extinct species of dugongs belonging to the family Dugongidae.
Contents
Fossil record
Metaxytherium subapenninum lived in the early and late Pliocene of Italy and Spain (age range: 3.6 to 2.588 million years ago). It is the only species of sirenians that lived in the northwestern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea in the Pliocene. It disappeared from the Mediterranean around 3 million years ago because of the progressive climate cooling. Fossils of these dugongs have been found, from the second half of the nineteenth century, in Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria and Tuscany.
Description
This relict species represents the last stage of evolution of Metaxytherium, showing an increase in body size and in tusk size and a rostral reinforcement responding to a long-term climatic cooling. These aquatic herbivores lived in warm coastal waters and inland waterways, feeding on seagrass.