RE: Talking of /Teinolophos/

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Trevor Dykes wrote:

> Primarily on that basis, Rowe et al refer /Teinolophos/ not just to 
> Monotremata but also to, as suggested 
> by the title of the paper, the platy family of Ornithorhynchidae. If correct, 
> then the most recent common 
> ancestor of a platy and an echidna pre-dated Teino's birth date, and that's a 
> heck of a long time earlier 
> than any molecular estimates have suggested.

The cladogram also supports inclusion of _Teinolophos_ in the 
Ornithorhynchidae.  But I don't know how well supported (statistically 
speaking) this particular topology is.  So I share your skepticism.

> The oldest clearly echidna fossils are from the Middle Miocene. 

Are you referring to "_Echidna robusta_" (Dun, 1895), now usually assigned to 
the genus _Megalibgwilia_?  Do you (or anybody else) know what material this 
species is based on?

Cheers

Tim
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