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what is the correct plural for platypus?
I see a lot of people are using platypi/platypii, but I was under the impression that platypoda was more correct, poda being the plural of pus.
Does anyone have educated insight?
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Platypus venom is not life-threatening AFAIK, just painful. It would be very hard to get enough venom in the first place to create an antivenene, let alone go into regular production. Platypus sting is very, very rare.
plat·y·pus ( P ) Pronunciation Key (plt-ps)
n. pl. plat·y·pus·es
Merriam-Webster says:
Main Entry: platy·pus
Pronunciation: 'pla-ti-p&s, -"pus
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural platy·pus·es also platy·pi /-"pI, -"pE/
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek platypous flat-footed, from platys broad, flat + pous foot – more at PLACE, FOOT
Date: 1799
: a small carnivorous aquatic oviparous mammal (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) of eastern Australia and Tasmania that has a fleshy bill resembling that of a duck, dense fur, webbed feet, and a broad flattened tail
The Macquarie Dictionary (i.e., the one that counts, here) says:
Gotta agree with the folks who argue “-podes”. After all, the proper plural for octopus is octopuses or octopodes, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Not “octopi”, although that’s commonly used.
Alice in Wonderland said, “Damn. (I love platypi).”
I believe that’s pronounced, “platypous” 
Since platypus and octopus were artificially created to be used in English, shouldn’t we be able to pluralize them any way that would work in English? It’s illogical to use a Latin method to pluralize a work of Greek origin, but -puses should be acceptable – I don’t see any requirement for -podes.
Any number of words have been absorbed into English from a variety of sources. Originally they may have followed the source languages’ conventions, but eventually there’s no need to perpetuate them. Isn’t that why we say ‘noodles’ instead of ‘Nudeln’?
In any case, dictionaries reflect current usage, even where the usage is technically incorrect or unorthodox.
So what other interesting monotremes show up in the fossil record?
Is there a way of determining a fossil monotreme?
There is a platypus living in my house. He’s a stuffed animal, but nevertheless, he’s here, and he’s spooky.
He turns up unannounced in places he shouldn’t be.
We think he’s evil. He’s a platypus gone bad.
He mocks us with his glaring gaze, and makes us feel as though he’s plotting our demise. His eyes are glassy and cold.
He hides things.
We’ve never been able to warm up to him, and now it’s taken a turn for the worse.
It appears that he’s got our stuffed pheasant on his side. This gives us pause, and worries us. A palpable tension permeates the air, mixed with unmistakeable platy-smell, and the stench of lunchmeats.
I’m sure Darwin’s Finch will be able to give you a proper answer, but in the meantime this site mentions distinctive teeth as evidence. I’ve also read that they only have one lower jaw bone instead of two.
G’day
George Bernard Shaw once complained that to use ‘octopi’ betrays an ignorance of three languages:
Greek, because ‘octopus’ is Greek, and the Greek plural of ‘pous’ is ‘podes’;
Latin, because in Latin ‘foot’ is “ped” not “pous”;
and English, because in English the pural is “octopuses”.
The linguistic situation for “platypus” is a direct parallel. But on the other hand, George Bernard Shaw was a snide and eccentric old pedant whatever animal you are talking about.
By the way, I have seen platypuses a few times, busying about in creeks. There has been a considerably recovering in their numbers hereabouts, since landowners have started building fences to keep their stock off sections of creek-bank so that the platypuses can dig their burrows in safety. And my brother and a few of his neighbours have put a lot of work over twenty years into rehabilitating their creek, restoring the vegetation and soil on the banks. It is fairly easy to show a tourist a pltypus up there now: they are numerous and quite active.
Regards,
Agback
That’s a proper enough answer. everton. A variety of other skeletal features common to monotremes can be found here. Fossil specimens, of course, would be determined to be montremes on the basis of these skeletal features.
The fossil record of monotremes is relatively poor. Aside from a couple other species assigned to the genera I mentioned previously, there are also a few specimens of Zaglossus hacketti, the “giant echidna”. All in all, the group has never been particularly diverse, and has been remarkably conservative in terms of morphology over their 150 million-year history.
And now for something completely diffrent: Everything you ever wanted to know about the sleep patterns of the platypus.
…and thereby perfect Straght Dope material! 
From what I’ve read, the platypus seems to be unique in that its venom is designed not for immobilizing prey or for self-defense, but for inflicting pain on other platypuses when they fight during mating season. This is why only the male platypus has the venomous spurs, and it also means that getting stung by a platypus is a lot more painful than most animal envenomations are, because the venom has evolved specifically to induce as much pain as possible by direct nerve stimulation. That’s probably why traditional opioid pain medications like morphine don’t do much to relieve the pain of platypus venom; the only way to provide significant pain relief is apparently to do a complete nerve block.
…And that’s the story of Oedipus.
(I’d rather marry a duck-billed platypus)
Than end up like old Oedipus Rexxxxxxxxxxx!
– Tom Lehrer, “Oedipus Rex”, who gets lotsa points for rhyming “Oedipus” with “platypus”, in my book.