Diverse morphological traits

Platy more primitive

Invertebrtates as diet
Platypus in SA died. Australian platy predominate. Found on eastern side
*Insert fossil of sterepodon
Hypertrophy of mandibular canal
Fossil echidnas do not appear until the mid-Miocene (approx. 13MYA)
Migration: 71-54.6
aqua dynamic streamlining, dorsally projecting hind limbs acting as rudders,
and locomotion founded on hypertrophied humeral long-axis rotation
Both have 10 sex chrom. NORs on the short arm of chromosome 6
Only 9 chromosome in echidna pairs, platy Y5 has no pair. But it was found
through chromosome painting that it hybridizes well with a region in Y3
OanX5 pairs with Tac X4
Some sex chrom (Y3, X4, Ya in Oan, X5, Y4 in Tac) are not homo, but pairs with
an auto (platy X4 with auto 27, echidna X5 paints with auto 12)
Four peptides found in the venom of the platypus were detected in the echidna
transcriptome. However, these genes were not highly expressed in echidna,
suggesting that they are the remnants of the evolutionary history of the
ancestral venom gland (Wong, et.al)
1. size of the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve of echidna is smaller.
Fewer gland receptor leading to the conclusion that electroreception is less
important than tactile sensation.
2. nerve fibres supplying the receptor are smaller in the echidna, as they have
smaller mucous sensory glands (site of electroreceptors) (Gregory, et.al)
insectivores (4, 29)
Conversely, platypuses and echidnas exploit ecological niches in which
marsupials
are restricted by their reproductive mode.