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Ancient Bone Analysis Reveals Echidnas' Aquatic Ancestry

  • Scientists published a study on April 29, 2025, revealing that a 108-million-year-old humerus found in southeastern Australia belonged to Kryoryctes cadburyi, an ancestral monotreme.
  • This finding challenges the previous belief that echidnas evolved from exclusively land-dwelling ancestors, as evidence suggests they descended from semi-aquatic monotremes.
  • Researchers analyzed the bone's internal structure and discovered it differed from the light bones of modern echidnas and resembled traits supporting a semi-aquatic lifestyle like the platypus.
  • Co-Author Professor Suzanne Hand explained that echidnas likely originated from a semiaquatic ancestor that transitioned to living on land, a shift that is considered highly uncommon.
  • The study implies that echidnas adapted to land through bone structure changes, highlighting a rare evolutionary transition from water to land among mammals and encouraging further fossil research.
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Phys.org broke the news in United Kingdom on Monday, April 28, 2025.
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