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A unique feature of the venom is the presence of a D-amino acid. This is the only known such example in mammalian systems. [8] This venom appears to be related to that of several species that are not part of the platypus's evolutionary lineage, such as certain fish, reptiles, insectivores, and spiders, sea anemones, and starfish. [9]
Platypus venom is likely retained from its distant non-monotreme ancestors, being the last living example of what was once a common characteristic among mammals. [2] Fossil records show that venom delivery systems were not sexually dimorphic in ancestral monotremes . [ 18 ]
The echidna spurs are vestigial and have no known function, while the platypus spurs contain venom. [42] Molecular data show that the main component of platypus venom emerged before the divergence of platypus and echidnas, suggesting that the most recent common ancestor of these taxa was also possibly a venomous monotreme. [43]
The second species named, Obdurodon dicksoni, occasionally called the Riversleigh Platypus, [6] was described by Archer et al who detailed a skull and several teeth found in lower-middle Miocene deposits from the Riversleigh Ringtail Site. The type specimen, an exceptionally well preserved skull, is one of the most intact fossil skulls to be ...
It is a small to medium-sized tree growing to 7–25 m tall. The leaves are narrow obovate, 20–40 cm in length and 10–20 cm in width. Fruit produced as mentioned earlier, is otherwise aptly known as the Box Fruit, due to distinct square like diagonals jutting out from the cross section of the fruit, given its semi spherical shape form from stem altering to a subpyramidal shape at its base.
Hura crepitans, the sandbox tree, [2] also known as possumwood, monkey no-climb, assacu (from Tupi asaku) and jabillo, [3] is an evergreen tree in the family Euphorbiaceae, native to tropical regions of North and South America including the Amazon rainforest. It is also present in parts of Tanzania, where it is considered an invasive species. [4]
Platypus quercivorus, the oak ambrosia beetle, is a species of weevil and pest of broad-leaved trees. [2] This species is most commonly known for vectoring the fungus responsible for excessive oak dieback in Japan since the 1980s. [ 3 ]
Dracontomelon dao grows as a tropical canopy tree distinguished mostly by its height (reaching up to about 37 metres or 121 feet), [5] for its greyish-brown trunk which is branchless up to about 20 m (66 ft), and for its narrow buttresses which can reach up its trunk up to 6 m (20 ft) high.