{"id":637633,"date":"2026-04-29T03:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637633\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T03:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:57:11","slug":"twenty-five-million-year-old-platypus-fossils-with-teeth-found-in-outback-sa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637633\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-five-million-year-old platypus fossils with teeth found in outback SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palaeontologists have uncovered 25-million-year-old adult platypus fossils with well-formed teeth in South Australia’s outback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers from Flinders University have been attending Frome Downs Station, about 425 kilometres north of Adelaide, for around 20 years, excavating platypus fossils in 2015, 2017 and 2020.<\/p>\n

In that time, “millions” of fish bones have been found, as well as “more than 1,000” non-fish vertebrate fossils. Of these, just three of the toothed platypuses were uncovered.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Researchers uncovered a scapulocoracoid fossil at Billeroo Creek in 2020. (Supplied: Gregg Borschmann)<\/p>\n

Flinders University associate professor Trevor Worthy said the landscape was very different when the oldest known platypus species, Obdurodon insignis,\u00a0lived.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There was nothing like the desert that’s there today,” he told ABC North and West Breakfast’s Tom Mann.<\/p>\n

“It was a lush environment with forests and numerous water animals.”<\/p>\n

A toothy surprise<\/p>\n

Where previous findings included one and a half molar teeth, the new fossils showed the species had both molars and premolars \u2014 distinguishing it from the modern adult platypus, which has no teeth.<\/p>\n

Dr Worthy said the fossils’ teeth added another 8 million years to previous knowledge.<\/p>\n

“We knew from something about 17 million years ago that this group of ancient platypus (sic) had teeth,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Trevor Worthy says the discovery extends our knowledge of the species further into the past. (Supplied: Flinders University)<\/p>\n

“This shows that right back at 25 million years ago, they also had this array of big teeth \u2026 this adds new teeth to the oldest population.”<\/p>\n

The ancient platypus had large, pointy premolars towards the front of their jaw, which Dr Worthy said expanded previous knowledge of its diet.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A lower premolar (upper left), lower molar (upper right), drawings by Gen Conway (middle row), and two views of the scapulocoracoid, next to the same bone from a modern platypus. (Supplied: Flinders University Palaeontology Lab)<\/p>\n

“They essentially tell you it was pretty good at munching stuff,” he said.<\/p>\n

The large back teeth would have allowed the animals to eat organisms like crayfish, molluscs and clams.<\/p>\n

It points to a much crunchier diet than that afforded to the modern platypus, which loses its teeth at a young age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Modern platypuses primarily consume freshwater invertebrates like insect larvae, shrimp, worms, and yabbies, which they store in their cheeks before grinding with the rough pads that replace their teeth.<\/p>\n

More news from regional SAStar swimmers<\/p>\n

Other significant findings included a partial scapulocoracoid \u2014\u00a0a bone which supports the animal’s arm or front limb.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Worthy said the fossils revealed a “very similar forelimb structure to [the] modern platypus”.<\/p>\n

“We wondered whether or not these ancient platypus (sic) actually had the same capability of swimming and things like that, because a lot can happen in 25 million years,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Palaeontologists found one fossil at the Billeroo Creek site in 2017. (Supplied: Aaron Camens)<\/p>\n

“But it looks like the shoulder girdle is very, very similar to the modern one \u2026 indicating it could swim just as well as its modern descendant.<\/p>\n

“The modern platypus is ultra special for many reasons, but the fact that it’s been hanging around for 25 million years just makes it more special.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palaeontologists have uncovered 25-million-year-old adult platypus fossils with well-formed teeth in South Australia’s outback.\u00a0 Researchers from Flinders University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,308612,44982,18333,308613,308614,308616,118102,96706,308617,128,308615],"class_list":["post-637633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-do-platypus-have-teeth","tag-flinders-university","tag-fossils","tag-how-long-have-platypus-been-in-austraia-for","tag-how-old-are-platypus","tag-molars","tag-outback-sa","tag-platypus","tag-premolars","tag-science","tag-what-do-platypus-eat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}