Leporidae

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Statistics of barcoding coverage:

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:496
Specimens with Sequences:405
Specimens with Barcodes:396
Species:27
Species With Barcodes:27
Public Records:145
Public Species:15
Public BINs:21

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Access Published & Released Data: Download FASTA File

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Thirteen species within Leporidae are considered threatened or near-threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 7 of which are either endangered or critically endangered. Of the 62 species listed by the IUCN, those threatened with extinction are often the most primitive. As leporid habitat is being destroyed to create room for crops, irrigation, and ranch lands, many species of rabbits and hares are forced to persist on remnant habitat islands that result in significantly decreased genetic diversity and ultimately, genetic inbreeding. Many native species are also vulnerable to increased competition for resources with invasive rabbits, the introduction of new pathogens, and the introduction of new predators. While habitat destruction poses the biggest threat to many native leporids, they are also vulnerable to competition with livestock for food resources, over hunting, and poisoning by farmers. Suggested conservation measures include the eradication of exotic predators, reducing habitat destruction and fragmentation, creating strict hunting regulations and enforcing those already in place, the establishment of habitat reserves, and increasing public awareness about the importance of leporid conservation efforts.

  • IUCN, 2008. "2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species" (On-line). Accessed February 15, 2009 at http://www.iucnredlist.org/.
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The family Leporidae, consisting primarily of rabbits and hares, includes 54 species from 11 different genera. Leporids range in mass from 300 grams (1.4 lbs) in pygmy rabbits to 5 kilograms (11 lbs) in arctic hares. Adult head and body length ranges from 250 to 700 mm. Unlike most mammals, females are usually larger than males. Color patterns vary between species and across seasons, and range from black to reddish brown to white. Leporids are widely distributed and have adapted to a broad range of habitat types. They can be found throughout the world with very few exceptions. Habitat type affects pelage color as well as litter size. Some leporids are extremely social, living in large communal dens, while others are solitary, coming together in groups or pairs for mating purposes only. The term 'true hares' includes hares and jackrabbits and consists of those species in the genus Lepus; all remaining species are referred to as rabbits. While hares are well adapted for running long distances, rabbits run in short bursts and have modified limbs adapted for digging. Hares have long muscle fibers in contrast to the short fibers found in rabbit muscle. Hares are often larger than rabbits, have black tipped ears, and have distinctly different skull morphologies.

  • Gould, E., G. McKay. 1998. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Sydney and San Francisco: Weldon Owen.
  • Nowak, R. 1999. Order Lagomorpha. Pp. 1715-1738 in R Nowak, ed. Walker's Mammals of the World, Vol. 2, Sixth Edition. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Schneider, E. 1990. Hares and Rabbits. Pp. 254-299 in S Parker, ed. Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals, Vol. Volume 4, English Language Editioj Edition. New Jersey and New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.
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Leporids have had a long history of wreaking havoc on ecological systems and agriculture. Their high reproductive potential coupled with humankind’s desire raise them as a domestic animals has resulted in their nearly global distribution. In Australia, European rabbits have been credited with driving many marsupial species to extinction and on the Hawaiian Island of Laysan, rabbits have foraged 22 of 26 native plant species into extinction. Occasionally, leporids can damage crops and compete for forage with livestock.

Leporids can be vectors for many diseases that are transmittable to humans and domesticated animals. The most notable of these pathogens include tularemia or "rabbit fever", myxomatosis, coccidiosis, and pasteurellosis. Most diseases are contracted via the preparation and consumption of tainted meat. However, many diseases, like coccidiosis, are relatively species specific and only pose a threat to humans with significantly weakened immune systems.

Negative Impacts: injures humans (causes disease in humans , carries human disease); crop pest; causes or carries domestic animal disease

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Similar to its parent order, Lagomorpha, the family Leporidae has a wide geographic range. Leporids occupy most of the world’s land masses with the exception of southern South America, the West Indies, Madagascar, and most islands southeast of Asia. Although originally absent from South America, Australia, New Zealand, Java, leporids have been introduced to these locations during the last few centuries. The broad geographic range of leporids is largely due to introduction by humans.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Introduced ); australian (Introduced ); oceanic islands (Introduced , Native )

Other Geographic Terms: holarctic ; cosmopolitan ; island endemic

  • Angerbjörn, A. 2011. "Hares and Rabbits (Leporidae)" (On-line). Grzimek's Animal Life. Accessed April 19, 2011 at http://animals.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu.
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Beginning in the middle ages when Benedictine monks first domesticated them, leporids have had a long and beneficial impact on humans. For centuries rabbits have been an affordable source of protein to the general public, and their dense and soft pelts have provided materials for warm and insulative clothing. Today they are used as model organisms in biomedical research and are popular as game animals and as pets.

Positive Impacts: pet trade ; food ; body parts are source of valuable material; research and education

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Leporids exhibit a great deal of physical diversity. European hares, one of the largest extant members of the family, reach a maximum size of 75 cm and 5 kg and pygmy rabbits, one of the smallest, reach a maximum size of 29.5 cm and 0.46 kg. Domestic leporids can be significantly larger, with an average weight of 7 kg. Female leporids are larger than males, an unusual condition among mammals. Leporids have long hind limbs and feet. Their ears, which are also relatively long, are proximally tubular with the lowest point of the external auditory meatus situated well above the skull. Pelage colors range from brown to black to white. Although spots are relatively common in domestic leporids, most wild species have relatively subdued coloration that helps them blend in with their surroundings. The Sumatran rabbit is one of two species with stripes. Neither albanism nor melanism are uncommon in leporids, and some species that inhabit higher latitudes have white coats during the winter, which are then molted during spring. Most leporids are counter colored, with dark-colored dorsal pelage and light-colored ventral pelage. Pelage texture can be thick and soft or coarse and woolly (e.g., hispid hares) and may become increasingly sparse along the length of the ears. Rabbits and hares have short bushy tales, which are sometimes conspicuously marked, and the soles of their hind feet are covered with hair. The toes terminate in long, slightly curved claws.

Leporid skulls are unmistakeable. They have an arched profile and are only slightly constricted between the orbits, unlike those of their close relatives the pikas. They have prominant post- and supraorbital processes and the parietal, occipital and maxillae are fenestrated. In some species, the squamosals are fenestrated as well. They have a moderately robust zygomatic arch, a relatively short jugal, and tubular external auditory meatuses that are vertically positioned. The dental formula of most leporids is 2/1, 0/0, 3/2, 3/3 = 28. The primary incisors are enlarged, and the secondary are small, peglike, and located immediately posterior to the primaries. The primary incisors resemble those of rodents, except that they are completely encased in enamel. Canines are absent, and a large diastema separates the incisors from the cheek teeth. Their cheekteeth (i.e., molars and premolars) have relatively simple cusp morphology, with the occlusal surface being made up of two transverse ridges (e.g., bilophodont). The cheekteeth are strongly hypsodont in most species.

Rabbits and hares are often differentiated from pikas by the length of their tails and ears. Tail length in leporids ranges from 1.5 cm to 12 cm. Rabbits and hares are characterized by their elongated hind limbs and feet and their ears, which can reach 17 cm in antelope jackrabbit. Pikas have short, rounded ears whereas the ears of leporids are significantly longer than they are wide.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: female larger

  • Feldhamer, G., B. Thompson, J. Chapman. 2003. Wild Mammals of North America. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Leporidae:

The Leporidae are a family of mammals that include rabbits and hares, over 60 species in all. The Latin word Leporidae means "those that resemble lepus" (hare). Together with the pikas, the Leporidae constitute the mammalian order Lagomorpha. Leporidae differ from pikas in that they have short, furry tails and elongated ears and hind legs.

The term "leporid" may be used as a noun ("a member of the family Leporidae") or as an adjective ("like members of the Leporidae"). The common name "rabbit" usually applies to all genera in the family except Lepus, while members of Lepus (almost half the species) usually are called hares. Like most common names however, the distinction does not match current taxonomy completely; jackrabbits are members of Lepus, and members of the genera Pronolagus and Caprolagus sometimes are called hares.

Various countries across all continents except Antarctica and Australia have indigenous species of Leporidae. Furthermore rabbits, most significantly the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, also have been introduced to most of Oceania and to many other islands, where they pose serious ecological and commercial threats.



Characteristics[edit]

Leporids are small to moderately sized mammals, adapted for rapid movement. They have long hind legs, with four toes on each foot, and shorter fore legs, with five toes each. The soles of their feet are hairy, to improve grip while running, and they have strong claws on all of their toes. Leporids also have distinctive, elongated and mobile ears, and they have an excellent sense of hearing. Their eyes are large, and their night vision is good, reflecting their primarily nocturnal or crepuscular mode of living.[2]

Leporids range in size from the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), with a head and body length of 25–29 cm, and a weight of around 300 grams, to the European hare (Lepus europaeus), which is 50–76 cm in head-body length, and weighs from 2.5 to 5 kilograms.

Both rabbits and hares are almost exclusively herbivorous (with exceptions among the members of Lepus),[3][4] feeding primarily on grasses and herbs, although they also eat leaves, fruit, and seeds of various kinds. They are coprophagous, as they pass food through their digestive systems twice, first expelling it as soft green feces, called cecotropes, which they then reingest, eventually producing hard, dark fecal pellets. Like rodents, they have powerful front incisor teeth, but they also have a smaller second pair of incisors to either side of the main teeth in the upper jaw, and the structure is different from that of rodent incisors. Also like rodents, leporids lack any canine teeth, but they do have more cheek teeth than rodents do. Their jaws also contain a large diastema. The dental formula of most, though not all, leporids is: 2.0.3.31.0.2.3

They have adapted to a remarkable range of habitats, from desert to tundra, forests, mountains, and swampland. Rabbits generally dig permanent burrows for shelter, the exact form of which varies between species. In contrast, hares rarely dig shelters of any kind, and their bodies are more suited to fast running than to burrowing.[2]

The gestation period in leporids varies from around 28 to 50 days, and is generally longer in the hares. This is in part because young hares, or leverets, are born fully developed, with fur and open eyes, while rabbit kits are naked and blind at birth, having the security of the burrow to protect them.[2] Leporids can have several litters a year, which can cause their population to expand dramatically in a short period of time when resources are plentiful.

Evolution[edit]


Serengetilagus praecapensis skull, Naturkundemuseum, Berlin

The oldest known leporid species date from the late Eocene, by which time the family was already present in both North America and Asia. Over the course of their evolution, this group has become increasingly adapted to lives of fast running and leaping. For example, Palaeolagus, an extinct rabbit from the Oligocene of North America, had shorter hind legs than modern forms (indicating it ran rather than hopped) though it was in most other respects quite rabbit-like.[5] Two as yet unnamed fossil finds—dated ~48 Ma (from China) and ~53 Ma (India)—while primitive, display the characteristic leporid ankle, thus pushing the divergence of Ochotonidae and Leporidae yet further into the past.[6] The genus Praotherium was once considered to be part of this family,[7] but this is now in doubt.[8]

Classification[edit]

Family Leporidae:[1]rabbits and hares

See also[edit]

Portal icon Rabbits and hares portal

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Hoffman, R. S.; Smith, A. T. (2005). "Order Lagomorpha". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 194–211. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. 
  2. ^ a b c Chapman, J. & Schneider, E. (1984). MacDonald, D., ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 714–719. ISBN 0-87196-871-1. 
  3. ^ Best, Troy L.; Henry, Travis Hill (1994). "Lepus arcticus". Mammalian Species (American Society of Mammalogists, published June 2, 1994) (457): 1–9. doi:10.2307/3504088. JSTOR 3504088. OCLC 46381503. 
  4. ^ "Snowshoe Hare". eNature: FieldGuides. eNature.com. 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
  5. ^ Savage, RJG, & Long, MR (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-8160-1194-X. 
  6. ^ Handwerk, Brian (2008-03-21). "Easter Surprise: World's Oldest Rabbit Bones Found". National Geographic News (National Geographic Society). Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
  7. ^ "Leporidæ", Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  8. ^ "Praotherium palatinum (nomen dubium)". The Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 16 January 2013. 
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Leporids can be found in a wide range of environments, from open deserts to boreal forests. Habitat preference and cursorial ability are tightly linked, and as a result, hares and rabbits have distinct habitat requirements. Hares are most often found in open habitat where they can use their speed to evade potential predators. They also rely on their well-camouflaged pelage to hide from predators among the shrubs and rocks. However, some hare species, such as snowshoe hares and Manchurian hares, are well-adapted forest dwellers. While hares are most often found in open habitats, rabbits are confined to habitats with dense cover where they can hide amongst the vegetation or in burrows. Some species of rabbit, such as swamp rabbits and marsh rabbits are excellent swimmers and are considered semi-aquatic. In short, cursorially adept leporids reside in open habitats, whereas cursorially challenged species reside in closed habitats.

Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; polar ; terrestrial

Terrestrial Biomes: tundra ; taiga ; desert or dune ; savanna or grassland ; chaparral ; forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest ; mountains

Wetlands: marsh ; swamp ; bog

Other Habitat Features: suburban ; agricultural ; riparian

  • Wilson, D., S. Ruff. 1999. The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Hutchins, M. 2004. Lagomorpha. Pp. 417-516 in D Kleiman, V Geist, M McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol. 16, Second Edition. New York: Thomson & Gale.
  • MacDonald, D. 2001. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford: Andromeda Oxford Limited.
  • Vaughan, T., J. Ryan, N. Czaplewski. 2000. Mammalogy. Fort Worth, TX: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
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