Platypodes*   -   Family:  Ornithorhynchidae
“Platypus? I thought it was pronounced platymapus. Has it always been pronounced platypus?”   -  Jessica Simpson.  (1980-date)​
Names ethyology:   ‘ornitho’ (Gr.) = bird,  ‘rhynkus’(Gr.) = bill  (Gr.).  Literally ‘birdbills’.   ‘mono’  =  one or single,   'tremata'  -  hole.  Literally, one-holed animals (i.e. not a separate anus and urethra (two holes) but one single ‘cloaca’, from which both urine and faeces are expelled as well as eggs laid).   ‘obduros’  =  enduring,  ‘don’  =  tooth.  So, literally  enduring tooth, referring to the permanency of the creatures’ molars. ‘anatinus’ (Lat.) = duck-like.  ‘platypus’  (Gr.) = broad, flat foot.

Taxonomic notes:  The family name, Ornithorhynchidae, was coined in 1825 by John Edward Gray, a British zoologist.  The first description of a Platypus was published in 1799 by George Shaw in Great Britain and it was he who named it Platypus anatinus. In 1800 however, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (who was a major driving force behind the development of various natural sciences in Europe in the late 18th and 19th centuries) gave it the generic name of Ornithorhynchus.  It was found that the earlier genus name of ‘Platypus’ was already assigned to a genus of beetles and so the name ‘Ornithorhynchus’ prevailed.  The Ornithorhynchidae are one of two families in the order Monotremata.  

Statistics:   Within the Ornithorhynchidae there are three genera recognized, two of which are extinct.   O. anatinus, the Platypus, is the only member of the extant genus Ornithorhynchus.  The two extinct genera are: Monotrematum, containing one species from the Paleocene era (about 65.5 to 56 Mya), fossils of which have been found in Patagonia, Argentina; and, Obdurodon, an Australian genus with three species one of which may have reached a length of 1 meter, twice the size of the Platypus we are familiar with.

Description:   All species in the family, extinct and still living, are deemed to have similar bodies that appear to have been cobbled together from parts of other animals.  A plump rodent-like body with relatively large head, four short legs with large webbed feet, a wide, flat tail like that of a beaver and of course, the duck-like bill.  It is quite possible that the Platypus we know now is the smallest of them all with males reaching a total length of about 50 cms. and females about 43cms.  In contrast, M. sudamericanum, the extinct Argentinian member of the family is thought to have grown to a length of 1.3 meters. (Bear in mind, this estimate is based on size comparisons of molars only, no 
complete skeleton or, even other bones, of the South American ancestor has ever been found to date.) 

Distribution:   Not much is known about the distribution and range of the extinct species, but fossils have been unearthed in Queensland, N.S.W. and South Australia.  The extinct species Monotrematum sudamericanum discovered in Argentina in 1992, is the only non-Australian representative of the family Ornithorhynchidae.

Habitats:   Just like the current-day Platypus the pre-historic members of the family presumably lived near creeks, ponds and other freshwater water bodies where they could burrow in to the banks.   Currently, Platypus occur at any altitude from sea-level to 1600 meters elevation in suitable habitat from Cooktown all the way down to the southern tip of Tasmania.

Behaviours:   Platypus are mammals that burrow into creek and riverbanks for nesting purposes, and their ancestors possibly did like-wise.  They forage for food in the section of the creek/river they occupy by diving to the bottom and searching for small aquatic animals.

Diet:   Platypus are usually quite selective in their choice of food which consists mostly of bottom-dwelling insects like water beetles and bugs, flying insect larvae such as those from mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, dobsonflies and others. They will also eat certain plants, small crustaceans, small shellfish, snails and worms. There is however evidence also to suggest that they may have opportunistic tastes as well.  Due to their generally larger size, the extinct members of the family were probably capable of managing larger prey animals but their menu was otherwise similar at least.  Similarities in their back-teeth, suggest the extinct varieties may have enjoyed a diet not much different than that of the modern-day Platypus.​

Reproduction:   Monotremata, lay eggs from which the young emerge after a suitable incubation period. The females of the species have mammary glands and milk from these is expressed through pores in the skin which the young then lap up.
*    The 'most correct' plural form of Platypus is indeed 'Platypodes':   -pus comes from the Greek word  'pous' which means 'foot' and the plural i.e. 'feet', in Greek is 'podes'.    Most people tend to object to the term however, and 'Platypuses' has become widely accepted while just 'Platypus' as a plural, is more acceptable to people in the scientific community.   We'll leave you to choose.
            Platypus  -  Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Description:
Distribution:
​Habitats:
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Diet:
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Other names:

Some interesting facts :
-     Platypus first bred succesfully in captivity, in 1943 at  Healesville Sanctuary (Vic).  It took another 45 years for the feat to be repeated. 
-     Platypus were hunted for their fur until 1912, when it became a protected species.
-     It is most likely that Platypus can not jump. They are simply not built for it.
-     Adult Platypus have no teeth.  The young animal loses them as it grows up.
-     Adult male Platypus have a large and sharp tooth-like spur on the inner ankles of their hind legs through which venom can be                                                            transferred into an other animal such  as a predator.  To humans, the sting of a spur is quite painful but the venom is not deadly.
-     Platypus fur is fluorescent, it glows under UV light (=black light). 
​

​Taxonomy:
 
Phylum:   Chordata    (Chordates)
          > Subphylum:   Vertebrata    (Vertebrates)
                    > Class:   Mammalia    (Mammals)
                              > Subclass:   Prototheria     (Prototherians)
                                        > Order:   Monotremata    (Monotremes) 
                                                  > Family:   Onrnithorhynchidae    (Platypuses)  
                                                            > Genus:   Ornithorhynchus   
                                                                      > Species:   O. anatinus  -  Platypus

References  and  links:

​      Goodrich, G. and Winchell, Prof. A.,  (1800) Johnson’s Natural History, Comprehensive, Scientific and Popular, Illustrating and Describing the Animal Kingdom with its Wonders and                          Curiosities from Man, through all the Divisions, Classes and Orders, to the Animalcules in a Drop of Water. Vol. I,  A.J. Johnson and Co., New York.
      Menkhorst, P.W. (ed.), (1995), Mammals of Victoria, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
      Pascual, Rosendo & Goin, Francisco & Balarino, Lucia & Udrizar Sauthier, Daniel. (2002). New data on the Paleocene monotreme Monotrematum sudamericanum, and the                                               convergent evolution of triangulate molars. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 47. 487-492.
​      Strahan, L. (Editor in Chief), (1983),  The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife:  The Complete Book of Australian Mammals,  Angus and Robertson, Melbourne.     
      Van Dyck, Steve, Gynther, Ian. and Baker, Andrew.  (2013)   Field Companion to the Mammals of Australia,  New Holland Publishers, Chatswood, N.S.W.
      Walton, D.W. & Richardson, B.J. (eds), (1989). Fauna of Australia. Vol. 1B Mammalia. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.


      https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/100/2/308/5477503
      https://www.ecosystem.unsw.edu.au/research-projects/rivers-and-wetlands/platypus-conservation-initiative
      https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/native-animal-facts/platypus
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edward_Gray
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shaw
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Blumenbach
      https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/platypus/taxonomy
      https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/platypus-should-be-listed-threatened-species-new-report
      https://platypus.asn.au/
      https://research.amnh.org/paleontology/perissodactyl/concepts/deep-time/paleocene
      http://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/regional-showcase/life-reinstated-to-much-loved-warrawong-wildlife-sanctuary/
      https://www.abc.net.au/local/archives/landline/content/2005/s1330004.htm
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-04/cameras-set-up-to-confirm-platypus-sighting-in-adelaide-hills/8492400
      https://www.acf.org.au/landmark_research_finds_the_platypus_should_be_listed_as_a_threatened_species
      https://www.acf.org.au/new_study_shows_bushfires_hit_platypus_numbers_hard
      https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl
      https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43236-Ornithorhynchus-anatinus
      https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=Duck-billed%20Platypus&searchType=species
​​      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419302276
      https://www.zmescience.com/science/geology/platypus-fossil-paleontology-05112013/
Text:
Beringen, Erik.      'Platypodes* - Family: Ornithorhynchidae'
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Photographic  Contributions:
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