Siren (genus)

Siren is a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae.^[1][2] The genus consists of five living species, along with one extinct species from the Eocene Epoch and three from the Miocene.

Siren Temporal range: Eocene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Lesser siren, Siren intermedia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Urodela
Family:	Sirenidae
Genus:	Siren Linnaeus, 1766[note 1]
Type species
Siren lacertina Linnaeus, 1766

The living species have elongated, eel-like bodies, with two small vestigial fore legs.

Siren intermedia, the lesser siren, has been seen as both a colonizer and a dominant species, in a single community, at two different succession stages.^[5] In Texas, during the 1970s, the species was found to have removed at least 283 individuals from a beaver pond, over a four year period.^[6]

Species

Extant (living) species include:^[1]

• Siren intermedia Barnes, 1826 – lesser siren
• Siren lacertina Linnaeus, 1766^[7] – greater siren
• Siren nettingi Goin, 1942 – western siren
• Siren reticulata Graham, Kline, Steen & Kelehear, 2018 – reticulated siren or leopard eel
• Siren sphagnicola Fedler, Enge & Moler, 2023 – seepage siren

Extinct species:^[8][9]

• †Siren dunni Goin & Auffenberg, 1957
• †Siren hesterna Goin & Auffenberg, 1955
• †Siren miotexana Holman, 1977
• †Siren simpsoni Goin & Auffenberg, 1955

• 
  Siren intermedia nettingi,
  western lesser siren
• 
  Siren lacertina,
  greater siren,
  skeleton

See also

• Pseudobranchus, dwarf sirens

Notes

1. Sometimes listed as Siren Österdam, 1766,^[1][2] but Linnaeus has been ceded formal authorship by ICZN Opinion 92 in 1926^[3] and Direction 57 in 1956.^[4]