Age of Monotremes + echidnapus bottom right (IMAGE)

Taylor & Francis Group

Age of Monotremes + echidnapus bottom right

Caption

Six monotremes living in the same place at the same time, 100 million years ago at Lightning Ridge, NSW. Clockwise from lower left: Opalios splendens, a newly described species dubbed an ‘echidnapus’; Stirtodon elizabethae, the largest monotreme of the time; Kollikodon ritchiei, with hot-cross-bun shaped molars; Steropodon galmani, now known from additional opalised fossils; Parvopalus clytiei, the smallest monotreme of the time; and Dharragarra aurora, the earliest known species of platypus.

Credit

Illustration by Peter Shouten

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Credit must be given to the creator.

License

CC BY

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