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Leporidae

{{short description|Family of lagomorphs}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Rabbits and hares{{MSW3 Hoffmann|pages=194–211}}

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|53|0}}Eocene-Holocene

| image = Arctic Hare 1.jpg

| image_caption = Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus)

| taxon = Leporidae

| authority = Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

| type_genus = Lepus

| type_genus_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision =

Pentalagus

Bunolagus

Nesolagus

Romerolagus

Brachylagus

Sylvilagus

Oryctolagus

Poelagus

Caprolagus

Pronolagus

Lepus

†Aztlanolagus

†Nuralagus

}}File:Alaskan Hare Skeleton.jpg]]

Leporidae ({{IPAc-en|l|@|'|p|O|r|I|d|i:|,_|-|d|aI}}) is the family of rabbits and hares, containing over 70 species of extant mammals in all. The family name comes from "Lepus", hare in Latin. 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 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

{{Further|Cecotrope}}

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.{{cite book|editor= MacDonald, D.|author1= Chapman, J.|author2= Schneider, E.|year= 1984|title= The Encyclopedia of Mammals|publisher= Facts on File|location= New York|pages= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofma00mals_0/page/714 714–719]|isbn= 978-0-87196-871-5|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofma00mals_0/page/714}}

Leporids are all roughly the same shape and fall within a small range of sizes with short tails, ranging in overall length from the {{convert|21|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long Tres Marias cottontail to the {{convert|76|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long desert hare. Female leporids are almost always larger than males, which is unusual among terrestrial mammals.{{cite journal |last1=Ralls |first1=Katherine |title=Mammals in Which Females are Larger Than Males |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |date=June 1976 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=245–276 |doi=10.1086/409310|pmid=785524 |s2cid=25927323 }} It has been noted that the humerus bones of all leporids are extremely similar.{{cite journal |last1=Sen |first1=S. |last2=Pickford |first2=M. |date=2022 |title=Red Rock Hares (Leporidae, Lagomorpha) past and present in southern Africa, and a new species of Pronolagus from the early Pleistocene of Angola |url=https://www.mme.gov.na/files/publications/74e_CommsGSN24pp67-97Sen_Pickford2022.pdf |journal=Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia |volume=24 |pages=67–96}}

Both rabbits and hares are almost exclusively herbivorous (although some Lepus species are known to eat carrion),{{cite journal

| last1 = Best

| first1 = Troy L.

| last2 = Henry

| first2 = Travis Hill

| publication-date = 2 June 1994

| title = Lepus arcticus

| periodical = Mammalian Species

| issue = 457

| pages = 1–9

| doi = 10.2307/3504088

| oclc = 46381503

| year = 1994

| jstor = 3504088

| publisher = American Society of Mammalogists

| s2cid = 253989268

}}{{cite web

|title=Snowshoe Hare

|work=eNature: FieldGuides

|publisher=eNature.com

|year=2007 |url=http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?curFamilyID=556&curGroupID=5&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=2

|access-date=23 March 2008

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116053120/http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?curFamilyID=556&curGroupID=5&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=2

|archive-date=16 January 2009

}}

feeding primarily on grasses and herbs, although they also eat leaves, fruit, and seeds of various kinds. Easily digestible food is processed in the gastrointestinal tract and expelled as regular feces. But in order to get nutrients out of hard to digest fiber, leporids ferment fiber in the cecum (in the GI tract) and then expel the contents as cecotropes, which are reingested (cecotrophy). The cecotropes are then absorbed in the small intestine to utilize the nutrients.{{cite web |url=http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/exploring-a-rabbits-unique-digestive-system.html |title=Exploring a Rabbit's Unique Digestive System |work=Rabbits for Dummies |access-date=2013-08-14}}

The dental formula of leporids is: {{DentalFormula|upper=2.0.3.3|lower=1.0.2.3}} = 28.{{Cite book |last=Elbroch |first=Mark |title=Animal Skulls : A Guide to North American Species |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8117-3309-0 |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |pages=249–259}} Many leporids are classified by the characteristics of their teeth; for instance, the Amami rabbit's generic name, Pentalagus, is derived from the fact that it is often found without its third upper molar,{{Citation |last=Yamada |first=Fumio |title=A Review of the Biology and Conservation of the Amami Rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi) |date=2008 |work=Lagomorph Biology |pages=369–377 |editor-last=Alves |editor-first=Paulo C. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9_25 |access-date=2025-02-20 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9_25 |isbn=978-3-540-72445-2 |editor2-last=Ferrand |editor2-first=Nuno |editor3-last=Hackländer |editor3-first=Klaus|url-access=subscription }} thus having 5 (penta-) total molars.{{Cite journal |last=Lyon Jr. |first=Marcus Ward |author-link=Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. |date=1904 |title=Classification of the Hares and their Allies |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/23223/SMC_45_Lyon_1903_28_321-463.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |volume=45 |pages=428–431}}

They have adapted to a remarkable range of habitats, from desert to tundra, forests, mountains, and swampland. Some rabbits dig burrows for shelter, the exact form of which varies between species. Other rabbits do not dig burrows but use forms, usually under a bush. Hares rarely dig shelters of any kind, instead using forms, and their bodies are more suited to fast running than to burrowing.

Reproduction

Leporids are typically polygynandrous, and some have highly developed social systems. Their social hierarchies determine which males mate. Rabbits are induced ovulators (ovulate during mating).{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Bell |first1=Diana |last2=Smith |first2=Andrew T.|date=2006 |orig-date=copyright 2001 |title=Lagomorphs |editor-last1=Macdonald |editor-first1=David | editor-last2=Norris |editor-first2=Sasha |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Mammals |publication-place=London |publisher=The Brown Reference Group |page=695 |isbn=0-681-45659-0}}

Species nesting below ground tend to have lower predation rates and have larger litters.{{Cite journal|title = Evolution of life history traits in Leporidae: a test of nest predation and seasonality hypotheses|journal = Biological Journal of the Linnean Society|date = 1 August 2006|issn = 1095-8312|pages = 603–610|volume = 88|issue = 4|doi = 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2006.00646.x|first1 = Emilio|last1 = Virgós|first2 = Sara|last2 = Cabezas-Díaz|first3 = José Antonio|last3 = Blanco-Aguiar|doi-access = free}}

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 (called leverets) are born precocial (eyes and ears open, fully furred), while young rabbits (called kits) are born altricial (eyes and ears closed, no fur). Higher latitudes correspond to shorter gestation periods.{{Cite journal|title = Latitude and Gestation Period in New World Rabbits (Leporidae: Sylvilagus and Romerolagus)|jstor = 2461471|journal = The American Naturalist|date = 1 September 1984|pages = 442–445|volume = 124|issue = 3|first = Joseph A.|last = Chapman|doi=10.1086/284286| bibcode=1984ANat..124..442C | s2cid=83584955 }} Leporids can have several litters a year, which can cause their population to expand dramatically in a short time when resources are plentiful. Gestation period and litter size correspond to predation rates as well.

Evolution

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.{{cite book |author=Savage, R.J.G. |author2=Long, M.R. |year=1986 |title=Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide |url=https://archive.org/details/mammalevolutioni0000sava |url-access=registration |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mammalevolutioni0000sava/page/128 128–129] |isbn=978-0-8160-1194-0}} The last common ancestor of the leporids likely had features not present in the last common ancestor of the lagomorphs, according to a 2022 study of the extant and extinct known lagomorphs—an intercranial joint and a facial tilt, specifically.{{Cite journal|last1=Wood-Bailey |first1=A. P. |last2=Cox |first2=P. G. |last3=Sharp |first3=A. C. |year=2022 |title=The evolution of unique cranial traits in leporid lagomorphs |journal=PeerJ |volume=10 |at=e14414 |doi=10.7717/peerj.14414 |pmid=36518283 |pmc=9744148 |doi-access=free }} Two as yet unnamed fossil finds—dated ~{{convert|48|million year|e6years|abbr=unit}} ago (from China) and ~{{convert|53|million year|e6years|abbr=unit}} ago (India)—while primitive, display the characteristic leporid ankle, thus pushing the divergence of Ochotonidae and Leporidae yet further into the past.{{cite news | last=Handwerk | first=Brian | title=Easter Surprise: World's Oldest Rabbit Bones Found | work=National Geographic News | publisher=National Geographic Society | date=21 March 2008 | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080321-rabbit-bones.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322230736/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080321-rabbit-bones.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=22 March 2008}}

The cladogram is from Matthee et al., 2004, based on nuclear and mitochondrial gene analysis.{{cite journal|last1=Matthee|first1=Conrad A. |display-authors=etal |title=A Molecular Supermatrix of the Rabbits and Hares (Leporidae) Allows for the Identification of Five Intercontinental Exchanges During the Miocene|journal=Systematic Biology|date=2004|volume=53|issue=3|pages=433–477|doi=10.1080/10635150490445715|pmid=15503672 |doi-access=free}}

{{clade

|label1=Leporidae

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Nesolagus (striped rabbits)

|2={{clade

|1=Poelagus (Bunyoro rabbit)

|2=Pronolagus (red rock hares)

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Romerolagus (volcano rabbit)

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Sylvilagus (cottontails) 50 px

|2=Brachylagus (pygmy rabbit)

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Caprolagus (hispid hare)

|2=Oryctolagus (European rabbit) 60 px

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Bunolagus (riverine rabbit)

|2=Pentalagus (Amami rabbit)

}}

}}

}}

}}

|2=Lepus (hares) 60 px

}}

}}

}}

}}

Classification

{{main|List of leporids}}

Family Leporidae (rabbits and hares):

Predation

Predators of rabbits and hares include raccoons, snakes, eagles, canids, cats, mustelids, owls and hawks. Animals that eat roadkill rabbits include vultures and buzzards.

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Lagomorpha|L.}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q25900}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Leporidae

Category:Mammal families

Category:Extant Ypresian first appearances

Category:Taxa named by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim