Zaglossus hacketti
Encyclopedia
Zaglossus hacketti is an extinct species of long-beaked echidna
from Western Australia
that is dated from the Pleistocene
. It is known only from a few bones found in Western Australia. It was the size of a sheep, weighing probably up to 100 kg (220 lb). This makes it the largest monotreme to have ever lived. Due to the lack of cranial material, placement of Z. hacketti into the modern long-beaked echidna genus Zaglossus is uncertain.
Long-beaked echidna
The long-beaked echidnas make up one of the two genera of echidnas, spiny monotremes that lives in New Guinea. There are three living species and two extinct species in this genus...
from Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
that is dated from the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
. It is known only from a few bones found in Western Australia. It was the size of a sheep, weighing probably up to 100 kg (220 lb). This makes it the largest monotreme to have ever lived. Due to the lack of cranial material, placement of Z. hacketti into the modern long-beaked echidna genus Zaglossus is uncertain.