Murrayglossus

Murrayglossus is an extinct echidna from the Pleistocene of Western Australia. It contains a single species, Murrayglossus hacketti, also called Hackett's giant echidna. Though only from a few bones, researchers suggest that Murrayglossus was the largest monotreme to have ever lived, measuring around 1 metre (3.3 ft) long and weighing around 20–30 kilograms (44–66 lb). Historically treated as a species of long-beaked echidnas, it was separated into its own genus Murrayglossus in 2022. The generic name combines the last name of paleontologist Peter Murray and glossus, the Greek word for "tongue".

Murrayglossus
Temporal range: Pleistocene
Life reconstruction
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Monotremata
Family: Tachyglossidae
Genus: Murrayglossus
Flannery et al., 2022
Species:
M. hacketti
Binomial name
Murrayglossus hacketti
(Glauert, 1914)
Synonyms
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.