Did the Platypus Really Live Among Dinosaurs?"
"Now Australian scientists have discovered that the platypus is significantly older than previously thought: it may have been around since 120 million years ago, meaning it lived alongside the dinosaurs."
"The Platypus is a bizarre looking Australian mammal, one of the few monotremes left in the world – a mammal that lays eggs. When this strange looking creature, which can grow up to 50 centimetres long, was first studied by western scientists they thought the bill had been glued or sewn into place, few could believe that this animal was real and many dismissed drawings as total folly or an elaborate hoax. However, this highly specialised freshwater mammal rather than being an oddity might just have remained unchanged for 120 million years. This would make the humble Platypus one of the oldest kinds of mammal on the planet, with its origins now traced back to the middle of the Cretaceous. ... a fossilised jaw under the study of Dr Tom Rich and his partner Professor Pat Vickers-Rich has been identified as belonging to a member of the Platypus family and as the jaw dates from 120 million years ago, this puts the little Platypus right in amongst the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period. ... Using a high resolution CT scanner in Texas the scientists discovered this ancient animal (named Teinolophos) had a large internal grove or canal along its jaw to help carry nerve fibres from the bill to the brain – just like a modern Platypus. ...The Platypus far from being some sort of accident of nature has proved itself to be a very capable survivor with the basic body plan remaining unchanged throughout the Age of Mammals. ...the Platypus still can be found in Victoria, inhabiting streams just a few miles inland from where the ancient fossilised Platypus jaw bones were found."
"If we remain faithful to the raw genome data, which suggest that the platypus is an amalgam of avian, reptilian, and mammalian features, then the evolutionary tree of life in it's current form is wrong. The estimated time of origin of reptiles is 370 million years and of birds and mammals is 225 million years ago. If the platypus is connected to reptiles, birds and mammals, then it should be found in strata 370-225 million years old, but the oldest platypus fossil is only about 120 million years old."