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What does monotreme mean in biology?
Definition of monotreme : any of an order (Monotremata) of egg-laying mammals comprising the platypuses and echidnas.
Why is it called a monotreme?
The key anatomical difference between monotremes and other mammals gives them their name; monotreme means “single opening” in Greek, referring to the single duct (the cloaca) for their urinary, defecatory, and reproductive systems. Like reptiles, monotremes have a single cloaca.
Which animal is a monotreme?
The monotremes are a group of highly specialised egg-laying predatory mammals, containing the platypus and echidnas. There are only five living species of monotreme, contained within two families: Family Ornithorhynchidae: the platypus, a single species in a single genus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus.
What are monotremes give examples?
PlatypusEchidnasSteropodonPlatypusesKollikodonSteropodo…
Monotreme/Lower classifications
What are the main features of monotremes?
Despite sharing some reptilian features, monotremes possess all the major mammalian characteristics: air breathing, endothermy (i.e., they are warm-blooded), mammary glands, a furred body, a single bone in the lower jaw, and three bones in the middle ear.
How do monotremes produce milk?
Although they have mammary glands, monotremes do not have nipples like other mammals. Instead, milk is released through pores in the skin and the young suckle from these milk patches until they are mature enough to fend for themselves.
What is the meaning of Monotremata?
(Animals) any mammal of the primitive order Monotremata,of Australia and New Guinea: egg-laying toothless animals with a single opening (cloaca) for the passage of eggs or sperm, faeces, and urine. The group contains only the echidnas and the platypus [C19: via New Latin from mono- + Greek trēmahole] monotrematousadj
What are the characteristics of monotremes?
The monotremes are typified by laying eggs rather than bearing live young, and by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive and reproductive tracts, and other body parts compared to the more common mammalian types.
Where can I find media related to Monotremata?
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Monotremata. This category contains articles about all taxa below the subclass/order Monotremata – the platypus, the echidnas, and extinct species which are only known via fossil evidence. This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.
What is the best book to read about Monotremata?
Walker’s Mammals of the World (6th ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5789-8. LCCN 98023686. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Monotremata.