An egg-laying mammal of the lineage containing living platypuses and echidnas. Living distribution in Australasia does not describe the full fossil distribution.
A platypus is an aquatic-foraging, egg-laying mammal within Monotremata. Its broad bill, webbed feet and sensory specializations support feeding in water. Fossil relatives extend the lineage’s geographical history beyond the distribution of its living members.
A fossil monotreme from the South American Paleocene, showing that the geographical history of monotremes extends beyond their living Australasian range. [ref]

Ancestors (13)

  1. Mammal
  2. Mammaliaform
  3. Cynodont
  4. Therapsid
  5. Synapsid
  6. Amniote
  7. Tetrapod
  8. Vertebrate
  9. Animal
  10. Eukaryote
  11. Organism
  12. Biology
  13. Home

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Synonyms (1)

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Monotreme by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
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The weirdest mammal clade: they lay fucking eggs. Only 5 known species alive as of 2020.
Eggs are basal: they simply didn't evolve out of what other reptiles do. From which we conclude that milk came before eggs stopped.
So this is the most basal subclade of mammals.
Etymology: means "single hole" in Greek, because like other reptiles it has a single hole for shit, pee and fucking: the cloaca.
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