Difference between revisions of "Monotreme"

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'''Monotremes''' are a small [[relict]] group of primitive [[Australasia]]n mammals, consisting of the duck-billed [[platypus]] and the several [[echidna]]s.
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A '''monotreme''' (Order ''Monotremeta'') is an egg laying [[mammal]].
  
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In addition to their unusual physical conformations, Monotremes are remarkable for being the only mammals to lay eggs, and to have poison glands (spurs on the back legs of the male platypus); these were an unpleasant surprise for several early zoologists. Another primitive feature is the absence of well-developed [[mammary glands]], the young platypi and echidnae being nourished by nutritious emissions from their mothers unmodified [[sweat gland]]s.
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The Audubon Society calls these animals “''the most remarkable of all living mammals…”. The name comes from the fact that they have a single all-purpose ventral opening for both liquid and solid waste disposal, sexual intercourse and, in females, birth. All the more remarkable is that birth takes place in the form of small rubbery eggs.
  
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[[Category:Mammals]]
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There are only two Families in the Order:
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*The [[Echidna]] or Spiny Anteater (''Tachyglossidae'')  which is split into two living genera – ''Tachyglossus setosus'', which inhabits most of the mainland of [[Australia]] and the islands to its north, ([[New Guinea]]) and south, ([[Tasmania]]) and ''Zaglossus'', species of which are limited to New Guinea. 
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*The [[Platypus]] or Duckbill (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus'') which inhabits the wetter forested parts of the eastern third of the continent of Australia, including Tasmania.
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Monotremes were completely unknown to Europeans until the late 18th – early 19th centuries
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Reference:''The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of Animal Life''. 1982 p25
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[[Category:Monotreme]] [[Category:Mammals]]

Latest revision as of 19:18, November 4, 2016

A monotreme (Order Monotremeta) is an egg laying mammal.

The Audubon Society calls these animals “the most remarkable of all living mammals…”. The name comes from the fact that they have a single all-purpose ventral opening for both liquid and solid waste disposal, sexual intercourse and, in females, birth. All the more remarkable is that birth takes place in the form of small rubbery eggs.

There are only two Families in the Order:

  • The Echidna or Spiny Anteater (Tachyglossidae) which is split into two living genera – Tachyglossus setosus, which inhabits most of the mainland of Australia and the islands to its north, (New Guinea) and south, (Tasmania) and Zaglossus, species of which are limited to New Guinea.
  • The Platypus or Duckbill (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) which inhabits the wetter forested parts of the eastern third of the continent of Australia, including Tasmania.

Monotremes were completely unknown to Europeans until the late 18th – early 19th centuries

Reference:The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of Animal Life. 1982 p25

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