Echidna (ekidna)

[NL., Echidna na. Forster, 1778. [Not in use.] -2. In herpet., a genus of reptiles: used by Wagler and others for the genus of vipers ( Viperida ) called Bitis by Gray and Cope. Merrem, 1820. [Not in use.] -3. In mammal.: (a) The typical genus of the family Echidnida, containing the aculeated anteater or spiny ant-eater of Australia and Tasmania, E. hystrix or aculeata, and another species, E. lawesi of New Guinea, together with a fo il one, E. owen i. They have 5 toes on each foot; the snout is straight and moderately developed. Tachy glo us is the same, and is the name properly to be used for this genus according to zoological rules of nomenclature, the name Echidna having been preoccupied in another sense, though it has most currency in this sense. See A can tho glo us, ant-eater. Cuvier, 1797. (b) [l. c.] A species of the genus Echidna or family Echid nid a. The echidna resembles a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are much longer, and the snout is long and slender, with a small aperture at the end for the protrusion of the long, flexible, worm-like tongue. The animal is nocturnal, fo orial, and insectivorous, and catches insects with its long, sticky tongue, whence it is known as the porcupine ant - eater. The echidna is closely related to the ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed platypus, and, like it, 4. A genus of echinoderms. De Blainville, 1830. Echidnæ (e-kid'në), n. pl. [NL., pl. of echidna, oviparous. Echidnidhs. Hübner, 181Echid na +-idæ.] The family of monotrematous ornithodelphian or prototherian mammals constituted by the genera Echidna (or Tachyglos sus) and Zaglo us (or A can tho glo us ). They have, in addition to the ordinal and superordinal charac Zagie us or A can tho glo us bruijni. ters which they share with Ornithorhynchidæ, convoluted cerebral hemispheres, perforated acetabulum, as in birds, the facial region of the skull produced into a long, slender rostrum with the nostrils at its end, styliform mandibular rami, vermiform protrusile tongue, no true teeth, feet not webbed, but furnished with long claws, and no tibial spur. The family is properly called Tachyglo idæ. Echidnina (ek-id-ni'nä), n. pl. [NL., of a grain is sufficient to kill a small bird.