''Bharatisiren'' is an extinct genus of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

which existed in what is now

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

(Aquitanian) period.

Taxonomy

The type species of ''Bharatisiren'', ''B. kachchhebsis'', was originally named as a species of ''

Metaxytherium ''Metaxytherium'' is an extinct genus of dugong that lived from the Oligocene until the end of the Pliocene. Fossil remains have been found in Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Generally marine seagrass specialists, they inhabite ...

'', ''M. kachchhebsis'', by Bajpai et al. (1987) from the Aquitanian-age Khari Nadi Formation of western India. Bajpai and Domning (1997). however, judged ''M. kachchhensis'' generically distinct enough from the ''Metaxytherium'' type species to warrant its own genus, ''Bharatisiren''.S. Bajpai and D. P. Domning. 1997. A new dugongine sirenian from the early Miocene of India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1):219-228.

References

Miocene sirenians Fossil taxa described in 1997 Extinct animals of India Prehistoric placental genera {{Paleo-sirenian-stub