duckbill platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus )


Pronunciation key

( dukbil′)

duck•bill

n.

Small (about 1.5 ft. length), egg-laying water mammal with webbed feet and a beaver-like tail and a bill similar to a duck's. Also called platypus.

Taxonomic Hierarchy
Duckbilled Platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Kingdom Animalia – Animal, animals
Phylum Chordata – chordates
Subphylum Vertebrata – vertebrates
Class Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 – mammals
Subclass Prototheria Gill, 1872 – egg-laying mammals
Order Monotremata Bonaparte, 1837
Family Ornithorhynchidae Gray, 1825
Genus Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach, 1800
Species Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw, 1799) – duck-billed platypus, Platypus

References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Ornithorhynchus anatinus, (Shaw, 1799), Taxonomic Serial No.: 552524
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