Murrayglossus Temporal range: Pleistocene | |
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Life reconstruction | |
Scientific 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 | |
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Murrayglossus is an extinct genus of 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]
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]
Fossils of Murrayglossus hacketti were discovered in Mammoth Cave, Western Australia, and excavated in 1909. They were found mixed with the remains of other taxa such as Sthenurus and Macropus . Australian paleontologist Ludwig Glauert described the fossils in a 1914 publication. The specific epithet hacketti honours John Winthrop Hackett, "as a slight acknowledgement of his generous support which alone rendered the exploration of these caves possible.". [4] The material is poor, mostly 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]