Scientists have unearthed a bizarre creature dubbed the “echidnapus,” believed to have roamed prehistoric Australia.
Fossilized jawbone fragments of the animal were discovered in the opal fields of northern New South Wales, alongside evidence of several other extinct monotreme species.
Officially named Opalios splendens, the new species is nicknamed for its resemblance to both the platypus and echidna, the only egg-laying mammals alive today.
The research team suggests this discovery indicates that Australia once experienced an “age of monotremes,” when these rare mammals were abundant and dominant.
“It’s like discovering a whole new civilization,” said lead author Professor Tim Flannery.
The fossils were originally found about 25 years ago by palaeontologist Elizabeth Smith and her daughter Clytie while sorting through opal mine discards. They donated the specimens, estimated to be around 100 million years old, to the Australian Museum, where they were forgotten until Prof Flannery rediscovered them two years ago.
Prof Flannery, a mammalogist, recognized the bones as ancient monotremes. Among them were fragments of the previously known Steropodon galmani, a primitive platypus ancestor. However, other bones were unfamiliar, leading to the identification of three new species. These findings were published in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology.
The newly identified creatures exhibit unique combinations of features not seen in any living or fossil monotremes, said Professor Kris Helgen, Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute and co-author of the paper.
“Opalios splendens has an overall anatomy similar to a platypus, but with jaw and snout features resembling an echidna,” Prof Helgen explained.
Opal fossils are rare, and monotreme fossils even rarer, making these specimens a significant revelation, said Ms. Smith.
These discoveries bring the number of known monotreme species from ancient Lightning Ridge—a once cold, wet forest bordering a vast inland sea—to six.
“They show that long before Australia became the land of pouched mammals, marsupials, it was a land of furry egg-layers—monotremes,” Ms. Smith said. “It seems that 100 million years ago, there were more monotremes at Lightning Ridge than anywhere else on earth, past or present.”
However, other experts urge caution, stating that more evidence is needed to confirm Australia’s historical abundance of monotremes. Flinders University palaeontologist Rod Wells noted that while the region’s monotreme diversity might have been comparable to later marsupial diversity, further exploration is necessary.
The study’s authors hope their findings will attract funding for more targeted digs in the region to further support their conclusions.