Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes belonging to the family Tachyglossidae, living in Australia and New Guinea. The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the only surviving members of the order Monotremata. The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the American true anteaters or to hedgehogs. Their young are called puggles.
The Ornithorhynchidae are one of the two extant families in the order Monotremata, and contain the platypus and its extinct relatives. The other family is the Tachyglossidae, or echidnas.
Teinolophos is a prehistoric species of monotreme, or egg-laying mammal, from the Teinolophidae. It is known from four specimens, each consisting of a partial lower jawbone collected from the Wonthaggi Formation at Flat Rocks, Victoria, Australia. It lived during the late Barremian age of the Lower Cretaceous.
The long-beaked echidnas make up one of the two extant genera of echidnas: there are three extant species, all living in New Guinea. They are medium-sized, solitary mammals covered with coarse hair and spines made of keratin. They have short, strong limbs with large claws, and are powerful diggers. They forage in leaf litter on the forest floor, eating earthworms and insects.
The dingiso, also known as the bondegezou or bakaga, is an endangered, long-tailed marsupial found only in mountain forests on the west of the island of New Guinea. It is a species of tree-kangaroo, which are mammals native to Australia and New Guinea that feed on leaves or other plant matter. It belongs to the macropodid family (Macropodidae) with kangaroos, and carries its young in a pouch like most other marsupials. Though sacred to the local Moni people, it is still threatened by hunting and habitat loss.
The short-beaked echidna, also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna, and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus. It is covered in fur and spines and has a distinctive snout and a specialised tongue, which it uses to catch its insect prey at a great speed. Like the other extant monotremes, the short-beaked echidna lays eggs; the monotremes are the only living group of mammals to do so.
Zaglossus attenboroughi, also known as Attenborough's long-beaked echidna or locally as Payangko, is one of three species from the genus Zaglossus that inhabits the island of New Guinea. It lives in the Cyclops Mountains, which are near the cities of Sentani and Jayapura in the Indonesian province of Papua. It is named in honour of naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
The eastern long-beaked echidna, also known as Barton's long-beaked echidna, is one of three species from the genus Zaglossus to occur in New Guinea. It is found mainly in the eastern half at elevations between 2,000 and 3,000 metres.
The fauna of New Guinea comprises a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and amphibians.
The fawn antechinus is a species of small carnivorous marsupial found in northern Australia. It is the only Antechinus to be found in the Northern Territory and has a patchy, restricted range.
Megalibgwilia is a genus of echidna known only from Australian fossils that incorporates the oldest-known echidna species. The genus ranged from the Miocene until the late Pleistocene, becoming extinct about 50,000 years ago. Megalibgwilia species were more widespread in warmer and moist climates. Their extinction can be attributed to increasing aridification in Southern Australia.
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). Historically treated as a species of long-beaked echidnas, 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".
Monotremes are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts, compared to the more common mammalian types. Although they are different from almost all mammals in that they lay eggs, like all mammals, the female monotremes nurse their young with milk.
Antonie Augustus Bruijn was a Dutch navy officer, naturalist and trader in naturalia from the Dutch East Indies. He was the son-in-law of Maarten Dirk van Renesse van Duivenbode who from 1858 to 1861 provided lodging and assistance to Alfred Russel Wallace when he traveled through the Moluccan islands.
John Thomas Tunney (1870–1929) was a naturalist and collector of animal specimens, active in the west and north of Australia.
Yinotheria is a proposed basal subclass clade of crown mammals uniting the Shuotheriidae, an extinct group of mammals from the Jurassic of Eurasia, with Australosphenida, a group of mammals known from the Jurassic to Cretaceous of Gondwana, which possibly include living monotremes. Today, there are only five surviving species of monotremes which live in Australia and New Guinea, consisting of the platypus and four species of echidna. Fossils of yinotheres have been found in Britain, China, Russia, Madagascar and Argentina. Contrary to other known crown mammals, they retained postdentary bones as shown by the presence of a postdentary trough. The extant members (monotremes) developed the mammalian middle ear independently.
Opalios is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, O. splendens, known from a fragmentary left dentary.
Dharragarra is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, D. aurora, known from a partial left mandibular ramus. Dharragarra was likely more closely related to the living platypus than many other monotremes of the Cretaceous.
Ornithorhynchoidea is a superfamily of mammals containing the only living monotremes, the platypus and the echidnas, as well as their closest fossil relatives, to the exclusion of more primitive fossil monotremes of uncertain affinity.
