Ornithorhynchus anatinus
(G. K. Shaw, 1799)
Platypus
Taxonomy
| Subclass | : Yinotheria |
| Infraclass | : Australosphenida |
| Order | : Monotremata |
| Family | : Ornithorhynchidae |
| Genus | : Ornithorhynchus |
Species status
Authority citation
Shaw, G.K. 1799-06. [Fascicle CXVIII]. Pp. pl. 385–pl. 388 in Shaw, G.K. 1798-1799. The Naturalist's Miscellany: or, coloured figures of natural objects; drawn and described immediately from nature. Vol. 10. Nodder, London, not continuously paginated pp.
Authority publication link
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59339864Original name as described
Platypus anatinus
Other common names
Duck-billed Platypus
Type material
BMNH:Mamm:1979.2184
Type kind
holotype
Type specimen URI
https://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/76a5b996-a277-43e8-8ab0-dd9914731301Type locality
"In Australasia." Restricted to "New Holland (= Sydney), New South Wales, Australia" or the "coastal region of New South Wales" by numerous authors, although this type locality appears to have been erroneously restricted.
Biogeographic realm
Australasia
Country distribution
Australia
Subregion distribution
Australia(QLD,NSW,VIC,TAS)
Distribution notes
E Australia from NE Queensland through W New South Wales and Victoria, including King I and Tasmania. Distribution is primarily continuous within some catchments but dicontinuous or poorly known in others. Extinct in the Adelaide Hills and Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia and may be extinct in various catchments throughout the rest of their distribution (Hawke et al. 2019). Introduced to E Kangaroo I.
Distribution references
Hawke, T., Bino, G., & Kingsford, R. T. (2019). A silent demise: historical insights into population changes of the iconic platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Global Ecology and Conservation, 20, e00720.
Taxonomy notes
Originally described in the genus Platypus Shaw, 1799, but this is preoccupied by a genus of beetle (Platypus Herbst, 1793), leaving Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach, 1800 as the next available generic name. No subspecies have been recognized (Pasitschniak-Arts and Marinelli 1998), although 3-5 divergent clades have been identified across the species distribution using microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA (Furlan et al. 2010; Gongora et al. 2012; Kolomyjec et al. 2013) that could represent distinct subspecies; the most divergent of these lineages is found on Tasmania and King Island, while the genetic structure on mainland Australia is associated with river systems (Bino et al. 2019). Size variation is clinal in association to environmental temperature (larger animals in colder regions; Furlan et al. 2012), but no other morphological variation has been studied across the species distribution. Monotypic.
Taxonomy notes citation
Pasitschniak-Arts, M., & Marinelli, L. (1998). Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Mammalian Species, (585), 1-9. · Furlan, E., Umina, P. A., Mitrovski, P. J., Gust, N., Griffiths, J., & Weeks, A. R. (2010). High levels of genetic divergence between Tasmanian and Victorian platypuses, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, as revealed by microsatellite loci. Conservation Genetics, 11, 319-323. · Furlan, E., Griffiths, J., Gust, N., Armistead, R., Mitrovski, P., Handasyde, K. A., ... & Weeks, A. R. (2012). Is body size variation in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) associated with environmental variables?. Australian Journal of Zoology, 59(4), 201-215. · Gongora, J., Swan, A. B., Chong, A. Y., Ho, S. Y., Damayanti, C. S., Kolomyjec, S., ... & Gust, N. (2012). Genetic structure and phylogeography of platypuses revealed by mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Zoology, 286(2), 110-119. · Kolomyjec, S. H., Grant, T. R., Johnson, C. N., & Blair, D. (2013). Regional population structuring and conservation units in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Australian Journal of Zoology, 61(5), 378-385. · Bino, G., Kingsford, R. T., Archer, M., Connolly, J. H., Day, J., Dias, K., ... & Whittington, C. (2019). The platypus: evolutionary history, biology, and an uncertain future. Journal of Mammalogy, 100(2), 308-327.
IUCN Red List status
Near Threatened
Species Permalink
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Names and synonyms
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