Genus Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach, 1800

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. Über das Schnabelthier (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus) ein neuentdecktes Geschlecht von Säugthieren des fünften Welttheils. Magazin für den Neuesten Zustand der Naturkunde 2: 205-214 [205] [nom. nov. for Platypus Shaw, 1799; Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach is an available name in several works published in 1800; they include Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. Physiolog. Bemerkungen über den. Ornithorhynchus paradox. Götting. Anz. Gel. Sach. 62 Stück. Den 19 April 1800. 609–612 pp., the date of which is 19 Apr. 1800; it seems to be predated by Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. 41. Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. Das Schnabelthier. Abbildungen naturhistorischer Gegenstände. Blumenbach, J.F. (ed.) 5tes heft. Göttingen : J.C. Dieterich. [2 unnumbered pages of text, pl. 41], because Blumenbach comments in a letter, dated 31 Mar. 1800, to Sir Joseph Banks, see British Museum add. Ms. 8099, pp. 16–18 [16], that his print of 0. paradoxus would be appearing the following week in the fifth number of the Abbildungen; Blumenbach's account of Ornithorhynchus paradoxus in Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. Über das Schnabelthier (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus) ein neuentdecktes Geschlecht von Säugthieren des fünften Welttheils. Mag. Neuest. Zust. Naturk. 2: 205–214 apparently is an even earlier work; it is published as a postscript and an accompanying editorial footnote (205) comments that the first two Parts of the Magazin, i.e. the Parts of the Magazin with which the O. paradoxus postscript appeared, had been printed before the O. paradoxus article arrived and the fifth number of Blumenbach's Abbildungen would be appearing soon].

  Secondary source:

   Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. 41. Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. Das Schnabelthier. Abbildungen naturhistorischer Gegenstände. Blumenbach, J.F. (ed.) 5tes heft. Göttingen : J.C. Dieterich.; Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. Physiolog. Bemerkungen über den. Ornithorhynchus paradox. Götting. Anz. Gel. Sach. 62 Stück. Den 19 April 1800. 609-612 pp.; Blumenbach, J.F. 1800. Über das Schnabelthier (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus) ein neuentdecktes Geschlecht von Säugthieren des fünften Welttheils. Magazin für den Neuesten Zustand der Naturkunde 2: 205-214.
• Platypus Shaw, G. 1799. Platypus anatinus. The Duck-billed Platypus. The Naturalists' Miscellany: containing accurate and elegant coloured figures of the most curious and beautiful productions of nature; with descriptions in Latin and English in the Linnaean manner. To which are added descriptions more at large, and calculated for general information. No. 118. London : F.P. Nodder & Co. Vol. 10 7 unnumbered pages of text pls 385-386. [junior homonym of Platypus Herbst, 1793].

  Type species:

   Platypus anatinus Shaw, 1799 by monotypy.
• Dermipus Wiedemann, C.R.W. 1800. Nachricht von einem äusserst fonderbaren, neu entdeckten Säugethiere: Platypus anatinus. Archiv für Zoologie und Zootomie 1: 175-180 pl. 4 (as pl. 3) [180] [nom. nov. for Platypus Shaw, 1799; the date in 1800 of Dermipus Wiedemann is not known to Mahoney, J.; if Dermipus Wiedemann is found to predate Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach it would be an unused senior synonym; in that case the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature should be asked to suppress it].
• Ornithorinchus Artaud, S. 1803. Manuel d'Histoire Naturelle, traduit de l'allemand, de J. Fr. Blumenbach, Professeur a l'Université de Gottingue. Tome premier. Metz : Collignon xvi 528 pp. [162] [unjustified emendation of Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach, 1800].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Mahoney, J.A. in Walton, D.W. (ed.) 1988. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Volume 5. Mammalia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service x 274 pp. [Date published 13/Apr/1988]

Introduction

A special issue, the Australian Journal of Zoology Volume 57(3, 4): 294 pp., is devoted to papers on the platypus.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes