Platypus Evolution

Platypus Evolution Obdurodon dicksoni Eon Era PeriodEpoch Age (millions of years) The most complete fossilised skull of a Holocene 0.0117 platypus from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area was described in 1992 7 Pleistocene (15-10 million years old) . Quaternary 2.58 Pliocene 5.333 Miocene Neogene The extant platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus 23.03 Cenozoic Oligocene Obdurodon insignis 33.9 In 1971, two fossil teeth from Obdurodon insignis were discovered in the Tirari Desert, SA. They were Eocene found to be similar to the teeth Obdurodon tharalkooschild of extant baby Platypuses A description of a molar tooth from the 56 6 largest platypus, , Paleogene (25 million years old) . Obdurodon tharalkooschild was published in 2013. The tooth was Paleocene Phanerozoic Monotrematum sudamericanum discovered in the Riversleigh World Heritage 66 Teeth from Monotrematum sudamericanum Area and dated to the middle Miocene were found in southern Argentina in 1992. to early Pliocene5. It grew to about 700 mm long (63-61 million years old)3,4. Upper Platypuses Family Ornithorhynichidae 100.5 Steropodon galmani Opalised jaw In 1984, an opalised jaw from Teinolophus trusleri Reconstruction a platypus-like animal Mesozoic The smallest, oldest and Cretaceous (Steropodon galmani) was most primitive known member unearthed at Lightning Ridge, Lower of the monotremes. Described Illustration NSW. This was still the age of in 1992 from a partial Fossil Gondwana and the dinosaurs mandible from Victoria (110 million years old)2. 1 145 (~123 million years old) . References 1. Rich et al. (2013). Alcheringa 4(40): 475-501. 5. Pian et al. (2013). J. Vert. Paleo. 33(6): 1255-1259. 2. Archer et al. (1985). Nature 318: 363-366. 6. Woodburne & Tedford (1975). Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 2588: 1-11. 3. Pascual et al. (1992). Pp. 2-15 In ‘Playtpus and Echidnas’ (M.L. Augee ed.). Roy. Zoo. Soc. Aust. 7. Archer et al. (1992). Pp. 15-27. In ‘Playtpus and Echidnas’ (M.L. Augee ed.). Roy. Zoo. Soc. Aust. 4. Pascual et al. (2002). Acta Palaeotol. Pol. 47(3): 487-492. .

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Miocene Mammal Reveals a Mesozoic Ghost Lineage on Insular New Zealand, Southwest Pacific
Miocene mammal reveals a Mesozoic ghost lineage on insular New Zealand, southwest Pacific Trevor H. Worthy*†, Alan J. D. Tennyson‡, Michael Archer§, Anne M. Musser¶, Suzanne J. Hand§, Craig Jonesʈ, Barry J. Douglas**, James A. McNamara††, and Robin M. D. Beck§ *School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Darling Building DP 418, Adelaide University, North Terrace, Adelaide 5005, South Australia, Australia; ‡Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, P.O. Box 467, Wellington 6015, New Zealand; §School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, New South Wales 2052, Australia; ¶Australian Museum, 6-8 College Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia; ʈInstitute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand; **Douglas Geological Consultants, 14 Jubilee Street, Dunedin 9011, New Zealand; and ††South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia Edited by James P. Kennett, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, and approved October 11, 2006 (sent for review July 8, 2006) New Zealand (NZ) has long been upheld as the archetypical Ma) dinosaur material (13) and isolated moa bones from marine example of a land where the biota evolved without nonvolant sediments up to 2.5 Ma (1, 14), the terrestrial record older than terrestrial mammals. Their absence before human arrival is mys- 1 Ma is extremely limited. Until now, there has been no direct terious, because NZ was still attached to East Antarctica in the Early evidence for the pre-Pleistocene presence in NZ of any of its Cretaceous when a variety of terrestrial mammals occupied the endemic vertebrate lineages, particularly any group of terrestrial adjacent Australian portion of Gondwana.
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nicolás r chimento, Federico L agnolin y Fernando e novas Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia Necrolestes un mamífero patagónico que sobrevivió a la extinción de los dinosaurios Un descubrimiento patagónico desembocadura del río Santa Cruz, descubrieron esque- letos fósiles prácticamente completos del Necrolestes. El es- En 1891, Florentino Ameghino (1854-1911) dio a tudio de esos esqueletos llevó a pensar que se trataba de conocer unos restos fósiles encontrados por su hermano un mamífero muy arcaico en la historia de la evolución, Carlos (1865-1936) en las barrancas de Monte Obser- más que un ancestro de los topos, como había supuesto vación, en la provincia de Santa Cruz, en yacimientos Ameghino. Por determinados rasgos se pensó que podía de unos 17 millones de años de antigüedad. Determinó haber sido un marsupial, es decir, un pariente lejano de las que pertenecían a un pequeño –escasos 10cm de largo, comadrejas, los canguros y los coalas actuales. del hocico a la cola– y desconocido mamífero extin- Ciertos investigadores aceptaron esta última hipótesis guido. Estudió los diminutos huesos y consideró que de parentesco, pero otros se mostraron escépticos acerca el animal habría sido un pariente lejano de los topos de ella y se inclinaron por considerar inciertas las rela- africanos vivientes. Le dio el nombre científicoN ecrolestes ciones genealógicas del diminuto mamífero. Así, su po- patagonensis, es decir, ladrón de tumbas de la Patagonia, en sición en el árbol evolutivo de los mamíferos fue objeto alusión a sus hábitos excavadores. El hallazgo, publica- de debate durante gran parte del siglo XX. Para algunos, do por Ameghino en el número de la Revista Argentina de era pariente lejano de las mulitas; otros seguían pensan- Historia Natural citado entre las lecturas sugeridas, atrajo do que podía estar relacionado con los topos, y para un la atención del ámbito científico, ya que hasta ese mo- tercer grupo, sus vínculos eran con los marsupiales aus- mento en Sudamérica no se habían encontrado restos tralianos.
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The Oldest Platypus and Its Bearing on Divergence Timing of the Platypus and Echidna Clades
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Ornithorhynchus Anatinus): a BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Brief Report Vol
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