View source for Biology:Platypoda

{{Short description|Suborder of monotremes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Earth:Early Cretaceous|Early Cretaceous]] – [[Earth:Holocene|Present]], {{Fossil range|123|0}}
| image = Platypus_BrokenRiver_QLD_Australia.jpg
| image_caption = Platypus (''[[Biology:Platypus|Ornithorhynchus anatinus]]'')
| taxon = Platypoda
| subdivision = 
* [[Biology:Ornithorhynchidae|Ornithorhynchidae]]
* [[Biology:Extinction|†]] [[Biology:Steropodontidae|Steropodontidae]]
}}

'''Platypoda''' is a suborder of monotremes including the duck-billed platypus and it’s [[Biology:Extinction|extinct]] [[Earth:Cretaceous|cretaceous]] ancestors.

The [[Biology:Platypus|platypus]] itself is the only extant species of the suborder today.

==Taxonomy and evolution==

The first member of the platypod suborder to be discovered was the duck-billed platypus in 1798, and everyone thought it was a hoax. A pelt and sketch were sent to [[Place:Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] by Captain John Hunter, the second Governor of New South Wales.<ref name="Paradox">{{cite journal|journal=BioScience|jstor=1313511|title=The Paradoxical Platypus|first=Brian K. |last=Hall|volume=49|issue=3|pages=211–8|date=March 1999|doi=10.2307/1313511|doi-access=free}}</ref> George Shaw, who produced the first description of the animal in the ''Naturalist's Miscellany'' in 1799, stated it was impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Shaw|first1=George|last2=Nodder|first2=Frederick Polydore|date=1799|title=The Duck-Billed Platypus, Platypus anatinus.|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/304567|journal=The Naturalist's Miscellany|volume=10|issue=CXVIII|pages=385–386|doi=10.5962/p.304567|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> and Robert Knox believed it might have been produced by some Asian [[Biology:Taxidermy|taxidermist]].<ref name="hoax">{{cite web|url=http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_duckbilled_platypus|title= Duck-billed Platypus|publisher =Museum of hoaxes| access-date = 21 July 2010}}</ref> It was thought that somebody had sewn a duck's beak onto the body of a beaver-like animal. Shaw even took a pair of scissors to the dried skin to check for stitches.<ref name="APC">{{cite web|url=http://www.platypus.asn.au/|title=Platypus facts file|publisher=Australian Platypus Conservancy| access-date = 13 September 2006}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

''Platypoda'' is from [[Social:Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|πλατύπους}} (''{{transl|grc|platupous}}''), meaning "flat foot" in [[Social:English language|English]].
[[File:Steropodon model aus.jpg|thumb|A model of the extinct platypod Steropodon at the Australian Museum.]]
The first platypods appeared 123 million years ago in Victoria, {{wipe|Australia}} as steropodontids, they were once thought to have been part of [[Biology:Ornithorhynchidae|ornithorhynchidae]] but have since been moved to a new family. This is because they had molar teeth inside their [[Medicine:Jaw|jaw]]s unlike the [[Biology:Platypus|modern platypus]] and [[Biology:Teinolophos|Teinolophos]], the oldest of them, didn’t have a beak at all.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1976132}}

[[Category:Monotremes]]
[[Category:Mammal suborders]]


{{Sourceattribution|Platypoda|1}}