Ornithorhynchoidea
| Ornithorhynchoids Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Two extant ornithorhynchoids: the short-beaked echidna (above) and platypus (below) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Monotremata |
| Superfamily: | Ornithorhynchoidea Flannery et al., 2024 |
| Families | |
| Range of extant ornithorhynchoids | |
Ornithorhynchoidea is a superfamily of egg-laying mammals containing the only living monotremes, the platypus and the echidnas, as well as their closest fossil relatives, to the exclusion of more primitive fossil monotremes of uncertain affinity.
The clade was defined in 2024 following the discovery of some fossil monotremes from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)-aged Griman Creek Formation of Lightning Ridge Australia, which appeared to be more closely related to extant monotremes than to co-occurring early monotremes such as Steropodon and Kollikodon.