Paleontologists have discovered a new species, and it's being referred to as a "Godzilla platypus," according to CBS News.
Previously, paleontologists had believed that the platypus is one of a few species that can trace a direct line to the beginning of life on the planet. However, the discovery of a tooth in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia, that belongs to a different, now extinct platypus species.
"Discovery of this new species was a shock to us because prior to this, the fossil record suggested that the evolutionary tree of platypuses was a relatively linear one," Dr. Michael Archer of the University of New South Wales, a co-author of the study, said in a press statement. "Now we realize that there were unanticipated side branches on this tree, some of which became gigantic."
The species was named "Platypus Godzilla" because it was up to twice the size of a modern platypus, reaching lengths of up to three feet long. The scientific name of the species is Obdurodon tharalkooschild.
When researchers examined the tooth, they found it suggested that these Godzilla platypuses lived between 15 and five million years ago. They also indicate that the Godzilla platypus would have been predatory, feeding on other species.
"Obdurodon tharalkooschild was a very large platypus with well-developed teeth, and we think it probably fed not only on crayfish and other freshwater crustaceans, but also on small vertebrates, including the lungfish, frogs and small turtles that are preserved with it in the Two Tree Site fossil deposit," Dr. Suzanne Hand of the University of New South Wales and another co-author of the study, said in a press statement, referring to the site where the tooth was found. "Like other platypuses, it was probably a mostly aquatic mammal, and would have lived in and around the freshwater pools in the forests that covered the Riversleigh area millions of years ago."
The information about this new discovery was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Video about platypus hunting from National Geographic.
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