Platypus anatomy. Duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), as described in 1798 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840).

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Platypus anatomy. Duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), as described in 1798 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840). These artworks appeared in Volume 3 (1798) of 'Bilderbuch fur Kinder' (1805) by German publisher Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747-1822). The name Ornithorhynchus paradoxes had not been published by Blumenbach at that time, which suggests he gave Bertuch access to work in progress. The 1799 account by George Shaw remained the first official description but the genus name Platypus which Shaw used was replaced by Blumenbach's Ornithorhynchus when it was shown that Platypus was already in use for a genus of beetles.

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Size: 4635px × 3920px
Photo credit: © PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 1700s, 1798, 18th, animal, artwork, australia, australian, bertuch, bilderbuch, billed, biological, biology, blumenbach, century, duck, fauna, friedrich, fur, historical, history, illustration, johann, justin, kinder, marsupial, monotreme, natural, nature, platypus, skull, taxonomic, taxonomy, wildlife, zoological, zoology