RZS NSW Forum 2025: Monotreme Marvels

Monotremes, as the only living non-therian mammals, are an ancient group that has existed in Australia, New Guinea, South America and Antarctica since at least the Cretaceous. Although represented by very few species today, they were far more diverse in Australia when dinosaurs ruled the roost, but soon became less diverse and more specialised in the shadow of the expanding marsupial and placental mammal dynasties throughout the Cenozoic. Despite this long-term decline, they continued to thrive in Australia and New Guinea after the geographic isolation of the Australian continent but subsequently went extinct in Antarctica and South America. Why they survived in Australia and New Guinea but not South America remains a mystery.

Today, the aquatic platypus and terrestrial short-beaked echidna are the only monotremes left in Australia, with three additional long-beaked echidna species found only in New Guinea. All these enigmatic egg-laying mammals are highly specialised invertebrate eaters, each with its own highly specialised morphology suited to specific diets and lifestyles. Although an important part of Australia’s globally unique wildlife and the focus of considerable ongoing conservation efforts, much is still unknown about monotreme evolution, taxonomy, morphology, behaviour and ecology.

This Forum will significantly expand current understanding about monotremes with new research presented about the living species as well as the fossil record of South America, Australia and New Guinea. This should provide, among other things, important insights into the best ways to develop conservation strategies to ensure these fascinating but too often threatened mammals survive into the future.

If you are interested in presenting a paper or poster at this Forum and/or contributing a manuscript for potential publication, please contact Dr Pat Hutchings (pat.hutchings@australian.museum).

Registration

Registration will open in February 2025.

Forum Flyer

Download the forum flyer (12 January 2025).