Murrayglossus

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Murrayglossus
Temporal range: Pleistocene
Life reconstruction
Scientific classification Edit this 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

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).[1][2] Historically treated as a species of long-beaked echidnas,[1][3] 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".[2]

Description

Restoration of a feeding individual

At around 1 m (3.3 ft) long and weighing about 20–30 kg (44–66 lb), M. hacketti was the largest monotreme known to have existed.[1][2] M. hacketti had longer, straighter legs than any of the modern echidnas. Augee (2006) speculates that this feature made the animal more adept at traversing through thickly wooded forests.[1] The main diagnostic characteristics of genus Murrayglossus are a set of femoral traits: a low femoral head; the very low position of the lesser trochanter relative to head (situated directly below the internal margin of the femur); the large trochanter that has a high position relative to the head; a flared medial epicondyle; and obliquely oriented condyles.[2]

Discoveries

Fossils of Murrayglossus hacketti were discovered in

vertebra and leg bones, and the cranial material is completely absent, making M. hacketti's historical classification into the genus Zaglossus uncertain.[1] Some of the fossils have incisions and burn marks, suggesting that M. hacketti was at least occasionally hunted by humans.[5]

Aboriginal rock art found in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory may represent M. hacketti or the extant western long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijni).[6][7]

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 65199910
    .
  2. ^ .
  3. .
  4. ^ Glauert, Ludwig (1914). "The Mammoth Cave (continued)". Records of the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery. 1: 244–251.
  5. .
  6. ^ Masters, Emma (31 May 2010). "Megafauna cave painting could be 40,000 years old". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  7. ^ Gunn, R. C.; Douglas, L. C.; Whear, R. L. (2011). "What bird is that? Identifying a probable painting of Genyornis newtoni in Western Arnhem Land". Australian Archaeology (73): 1–12.