Extinct long-beaked echidna

Extinct long-beaked echidna
Megalibgwilia ramsayi

Echidnas are monotremes (egg-laying mammals), like platypuses. This species of long-beaked echidna was once widely distributed in south-eastern Australia and has been extinct for over 10,000 years. It probably fed mainly on grubs and worms, like the living New Guinea Long-beaked Echidna but unlike the Short-beaked Echidna that feeds mainly on ants and termites (and occasionally grubs). Megalibgwilia was large and robust, weighing about 10 kilograms. Several fine skulls of this echidna have been found in cave deposits at Naracoorte, South Australia.

Pleistocene, south-eastern Australia