| Murrayglossus Temporal range: Pleistocene
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|---|---|
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| Life reconstruction | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Monotremata |
| Family: | Tachyglossidae |
| Genus: | †Murrayglossus Flannery et al., 2022 |
| Species: | †M. hacketti
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| Binomial name | |
| †Murrayglossus hacketti (Glauert, 1914)
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| Synonyms | |
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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]
- ^ a b Augee, M. L.; Gooden, B.; Musser, A. (January 2006). Echidna: Extraordinary Egg-laying Mammal. Csiro Publishing. pp. 18–20. ISBN 978-0-643-09204-4. OCLC 65199910.
- ^ a b Flannery, T. F.; Rich, T. H.; Vickers-Rich, P.; Ziegler, T.; Veatch, E. G.; Helgen, K. M. (2022). "A review of monotreme (Monotremata) evolution". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 46: 3–20. doi:10.1080/03115518.2022.2025900. S2CID 247542433.
- ^ Siegel, J. M.; Manger, P. R.; Nienhuis, R.; Fahringer, H. M.; Shalita, T.; Pettigrew, J. D. (June 1999). "Sleep in the platypus" (PDF). Neuroscience. 91 (1): 391–400. doi:10.1016/S0306-4522(98)00588-0. PMC 8760620. PMID 10336087. S2CID 18766417.