Echidne Austral Echidna Australis Less.

Scarce c.19th French hand coloured engraving of an Echida.

The first sighting and drawing of an Echidna was made on 9th February, 1792 by George Tobin, who had been third lieutenant on Bligh’s second voyage at Adventure Bay. “The only animals seen, were the Kangaroo, and a kind of sloth about the size of a roasting pig with a proboscis two of three inches in length.”

By July 1792 George Shaw had provided the first scientific description and included it among the giant anteaters, Myrmecophaga, of South America. Several other names were proposed and found to be invalid before Illger coined the name Tachyglossus in 1811.

Other common names: Short-beaked Echidna, Spiny Anteater or Porcupine.
Modern binomial name: Tachyglossus aculeatus
First described: Shaw, 1792
Distribution: Australia wide (mainland).

From Cuvier, Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles.