Zaglossus robustus

Zaglossus robustus Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Monotremata
Family:	Tachyglossidae
Genus:	Zaglossus
Species:	†Z. robustus
Binomial name
Zaglossus robustus (Dun, 1895)
Synonyms
Ornithorhynchus maximus Dun, 1895

Zaglossus robustus is an extinct species of long-beaked echidna known from the middle Miocene (about 13 or 14 million years ago) of Gulgong, New South Wales, Australia.^[1] It may belong in the genus Megalibgwilia. The supposed fossil platypus Ornithorhynchus maximus was based on a humerus of this species.^[2]

References

1. ^ Musser, 2003, p. 934
2. ^ Musser, 1999, p. 8; Hall, 1999, p. 213

Literature cited

• Hall, B.K. 1999. The paradoxical platypus (subscription required). BioScience 49(3):211–218.
• Musser, A.M. 1999. Diversity and relationships of living and extinct monotremes. Australian Mammalogy 21:8–9.
• Musser, A.M. 2003. Review of the monotreme fossil record and comparison of palaeontological and molecular data (subscription required). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A 136:927–942.

Further reading

• Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh by Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp (page 162)
• Echidna: Extraordinary Egg-Laying Mammal (Australian Natural History Series) by Michael Augee, Brett Gooden, and Anne Musser (page 19)