Ornithorhynchidae

Ornithorhynchidae
Platypus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Monotremata
Suborder:	Platypoda
Family:	Ornithorhynchidae Gray, 1825
Genera
†Obdurodon Ornithorhynchus

The Ornithorhynchidae are one of the two extant families in the order Monotremata, and contains the platypus and its extinct relatives. The other family is the Tachyglossidae, or echidnas. Within Ornithorhynchidae are two genera, Obdurodon and Ornithorhynchus:

• Family Ornithorhynchidae
  • Genus †Obdurodon — an ancient branch of the platypus family
    • †Obdurodon dicksoni
    • †Obdurodon insignis
    • †Obdurodon/Monotrematum sudamericanum
    • †Obdurodon tharalkooschild
  • Genus Ornithorhynchus
    • Ornithorhynchus anatinus (the modern platypus)

Another two genera, Steropodon and Teinolophos, may also belong to Ornithorhynchidae. However, they are both very ancient, and scientific literature seems to indicate they are closely related to, but not a part of, the Ornithorhynchids.

The extinct Ornithorhynchus maximus was once included in Ornithorhynchus, but has now been concluded to be from the echidna family as Zaglossus robustus.^{[citation needed]}

References

Media related to Ornithorhynchidae at Wikimedia Commons

• Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M, eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. p. 2. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.