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Historical
Background and Naming
Courtesy of:
The Australian Platypus Conservancy
The
Fossil Record
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Based on a fragment of lower jaw found in opal deposits at
Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, a type of ancestral platypus (Steropodon
galmani) existed alongside the dinosaurs about 110
million years ago.
In 1991, a fossil tooth belonging to a different kind of
ancient platypus (originally described as Monotrematum
sudamericanum but now probably regarded as another
Obdurodon species) was discovered in the Patagonian desert of Argentina.
The tooth was
found in sediments deposited over 60 million years ago, at the time when
Australia and South America were still joined as part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana.
Fossils belonging to three other extinct platypus species (Obdurodon
insignis, Obdurodon
dicksoni, and Obdurodon
sp. A) have been found in Australian sediments
deposited between 25 and 15 million years ago, while a leg bone from the first
close relative of the modern platypus (Ornithorhynchus
sp.) has been dated to about 4.5 million years
ago.
The earliest known remains of the platypus in its current
form (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
date back to around 100,000 years ago.
The platypus is sometimes described as a "living
fossil" because of this ancient lineage and its combination of mammalian
and reptilian features.
Aboriginal
legend
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According to Aboriginal legend, the first platypus were born
after a young female duck mated with a lonely and persuasive water-rat.
The
duck's offspring had their mother's bill and webbed feet and their father's four
legs and handsome brown fur.
Scientific
recognition
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In 1799, the platypus was first described by a British
scientist, Dr George Shaw.
His initial reaction to this original specimen was
that it was an elaborate hoax.
He even took a pair of scissors to the pelt,
expecting to find stitches attaching the bill to the skin.
Platypus names
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Early British colonists in Australia called the platypus a
"water mole". Prior to the arrival of European settlers, Aboriginal
people had many different names for the animal, including "boondaburra",
"mallingong" and "tambreet".
Dr Shaw, in his scientific description of 1799, gave the name
Platypus anatinus,
from Greek and Latin words meaning "flat-footed, duck-like". However,
when it became known that Platypus had already been used to name a group of
beetles, a new term had to be adopted. The official scientific name became and
remains Ornithorhynchus anatinus,
with the first word meaning "bird-like snout".
Although the name "duckbill" was widely used as a
popular description for the animal, the abandoned scientific name
"platypus" gradually became the accepted common name for the species.
The preferred plural of platypus is either
"platypus" or "platypuses", depending on which dictionary
you consult. (We use the former for the sake of simplicity.) The term
"platypi" is no longer considered to be valid.
There is no accepted term - equivalent to pup or cub - to
describe a baby platypus. One possible name recently suggested is a "platapup"
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