Halitherium

Taxobox
name = "Halitherium"
fossil_range = Late Eocene to Early Oligocene

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image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Sirenia
familia = Dugongidae
subfamilia = Halitheriinae
genus = "Halitherium"
genus_authority = Kaup, 1838
binomial = "Halitherium schinzi"

"Halitherium" was an early sea cow that started in the late Eocene, then the Oligocene. Its fossils are common in European shales. Inside its flippers were finger bones that did not stick out. "Halitherium" also had very poorly developed back legs. Therefore, it had no external hind legs. It did, however, have a basic femur, joined to a reduced pelvis. "Halitherium" also had elongated ribs to increase lung capacity to provide fine control of buoyancy.

References

*"National Geographic Prehistoric Mammals" (National Geographic) by Alan Turner
*"Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology" by Annalisa Berta, James L. Sumich, and Kit M. Kovacs
*"The Beginning of the Age of Mammals" by Kenneth D. Rose
*"Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals" by William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig, and J. G.M. Thewissen
*"Colbert's Evolution of the Vertebrates: A History of the Backboned Animals Through Time" by Edwin H. Colbert, Michael Morales, and Eli C. Minkoff
*"Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin
*"Classification of Mammals" by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell
*"The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades" by Kenneth D. Rose and J. David Archibald

Related species

*Metaxytherium
*Rytiodus

See also

*Evolution of sirenians