An Occurrence of Fossil Sirenia (Mammalia) from the Ashiya Group, Kyushu, Japan

Abstract

Two caudal vertebrae of a dugongid sirenia are reported from the Late Oligocene Ashiya group, northern Kyushu, Japan. Among rather rare occurrences of sirenian in Japan, Ashiya specimen is the oldest in them, and also the oldest in the Pacific coast. Sirenian had already migrated to the Pacific Ocean at the end of the Oligocene.