![]() ![]() It is culturally significant to several Aboriginal peoples of Australia, who also used to hunt the animal for food. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology, and a recognisable and iconic symbol of Australia. In 1799, the first scientists to examine a preserved platypus body judged it a fake, made of several animals sewn together. The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it. It is one of the few species of venomous mammals, as the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom, capable of causing severe pain to humans. ![]() Like other monotremes, it senses prey through electrolocation. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family ( Ornithorhynchidae) and genus ( Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species appear in the fossil record. For instance, although no monotreme fossils have been discovered in Antarctica, given its previous proximity to Australia and South America, there are likely ancient platypus bones deep beneath the ice.īut as a South American paleontologist, Novas said, it's pretty cool to know that "the great grand-father of the Australian Ornithorhynchus was Argentinian.The platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. "There are still huge gaps in the monotreme fossil record," Beck said. While the discovery constitutes an important and interesting new piece of the monotreme evolutionary puzzle, researchers are still far from a complete picture. Tiny-headed, ancient 'platypus' with Stegosaurus back plates unearthed Platypuses glow an eerie blue-green under UV light Scientists evolve mystery of echidnas' bizarre 4-headed penis Additionally, the researchers uncovered the fossilized remains of other early mammals, turtles, frogs, snakes, aquatic plants and a variety of dinosaurs. The Argentinian fossil bed where it was discovered bears this out Novas said that they found insects and snail shells in the sediments around P. pascuali likely had a diet similar to that of a modern platypus: mainly, small aquatic invertebrates, including insect larvae and snails. pascuali molar closely resembled these teeth, as well as the very small, imperfect teeth that baby platypuses briefly possess.īased on its teeth and apparent habitat, P. But another extinct platypus relative, the 30 million-year-old Obdurodon, retained teeth in both its upper and lower jaws. "Living platypuses lack teeth," Novas said. In the case of monotremes, though, dental identification is a bit more complicated. who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. When it comes to studying fossilized mammal remains, "teeth give us a huge amount of information," Robin Beck, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Salford in the U.K. 16, was identified by a fragment of a lower jaw containing a molar. The specimen, which was described in the journal Communications Biology on Feb. A close-up of the fossilized molar from the ancient platypus relative Patagorhynchus pascuali. ![]()
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