A Synopsis of the North American Lagomorpha

Volume 5, No. 10, Pp. 119-202, 68 Figures in Text

December 15, 1951

University of Kansas

LAWRENCE

1951

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS

The University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, are offered in exchange for the publications of learned societies and institutions, universities and libraries. For exchanges and information, address the EXCHANGE DESK, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LIBRARY, LAWRENCE, KANSAS, U. S. A.

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.--E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Editorial Committee.

This series contains contributions from the Museum of Natural History. Cited as Univ. Kans. Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist.

Vol. 1. (Complete) Nos. 1-26. Pp. 1-638. August 15, 1946-January 20, 1951.

Vol. 2. (Complete) Mammals of Washington. By Walter W. Dalquest. Pp. 1-444, 140 figures in text. April 9, 1948.

Vol. 3. 1. The avifauna of Micronesia its origin, evolution, and distribution. By Rollin H. Baker. Pp. 1-359, 16 figures in text. June 12, 1951.

2. A quantitative study of the nocturnal migration of birds. Pp. 361-472, 47 figures in text. June 29, 1951.

3. Phylogeny of the waxwings and allied birds. By M. Dale Arvey. Pp. 473-530, 49 figures in text, 13 tables. October 10, 1951.

4. Birds from the state of Veracruz, Mexico. By George H. Lowery, Jr., and Walter W. Dalquest. Pp. 531-649, 7 figures in text, 2 tables. October 10, 1951.

Vol. 4. In press.

Vol. 5. 1. Preliminary survey of a Paleocene faunule from the Angels Peak Area, New Mexico. By Robert W. Wilson. Pp. 1-11, 1 figure in text. February 24, 1951.

2. Two new moles (genus Scalopus) from Mexico and Texas. By Rollin H. Baker. Pp. 17-24. February 28, 1951.

3. Two new pocket gophers from Wyoming and Colorado. By E. Raymond Hall and H. Gordon Montague. Pp. 25-32. February 28, 1951.

4. Mammals obtained by Dr. Curt von Wedel from the barrier beach of Tamaulipas, Mexico. By E. Raymond Hall. Pp. 33-47, 1 figure in text. October 1, 1951.

5. Comments on the taxonomy and geographic distribution of some North American rabbits. By E. Raymond Hall and Keith R. Kelson. Pp. 49-58. October 1, 1951.

6. Two new subspecies of Thomomys bottae from New Mexico and Colorado. By Keith R. Kelson. Pp. 59-71, one figure in text. October 1, 1951.

7. A new subspecies of Microtus montanus from Montana and comments on Microtus canicaudus Miller. By E. Raymond Hall and Keith R. Kelson. Pp. 73-79. October 1, 1951.

8. A new pocket gopher (genus Thomomys) from Eastern Colorado. By E. Raymond Hall. Pp. 81-85. October 1, 1951.

9. Mammals taken along the Alaska highway. By Rollin H. Baker. Pp. 87-117, 1 figure in text. November 28, 1951.

10. A synopsis of the North American Lagomorpha. By E. Raymond Hall. Pp. 110-202, 68 figures in text. December 15, 1951.

A Synopsis of the North American Lagomorpha

E. RAYMOND HALL

University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History

Volume 5, No. 10, Pp. 119-202, 68 Figures in Text

December 15, 1951

University of Kansas

LAWRENCE

1951

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Edward H. Taylor, Robert W. Wilson

Volume 5, No. 10, Pp. 119-202, 68 Figures in Text December 15, 1951

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1951

23-7988

A Synopsis of the North American Lagomorpha

E. RAYMOND HALL

The most popular small game mammal in nearly every part of North America is one or another of the species of rabbits or hares. The rabbit is one of the few species of wild game that still is hunted commercially and sold for food on the open market. The close association and repeated contact of man with these animals has resulted in his contracting such of their diseases as are transmissible to him. Consequently the rabbits and hares have figured in many investigations concerned with public health and medicine. Because the number of such investigations is increasing, there has been an increasing number of specimens of these animals submitted to mammalogists for identification; also, inquiries are received as to the degree of relationship between two or more of the named kinds of rabbits in which identical, or closely related, disease organisms have been found; other inquiries have to do with the degree of relationship of named kinds of rabbits and hares in widely separated parts of the continent.

The monographs to which the investigator could turn to obtain answers to some of these questions are Arthur H. Howell's "Revision of the American Pikas" (1924), and Edward H. Nelson's "The Rabbits of North America" (1909) published 27 and 42 years ago, respectively. These monographs are still excellent sources of detailed information, as, of course, also is Marcus Ward Lyon's "Classification of the Hares and their Allies" (1904). The acquisition of additional study specimens in recent years, however, has provided new data on the geographic occurrence of several species, and study of these specimens has given basis for a different arrangement of several named kinds of the lagomorphs. Two principal aims of the present synopsis, therefore, are to combine in one publication the current taxonomic arrangement and as much as is known of the geographic distribution of the several species and subspecies.

The maps herewith and listings of marginal localities are the means chosen to present the information on geographic distribution. The artificial key is supplemented by line drawings of skulls of certain species and by a minimum of text to aid the user of the key. The skulls are necessary for the identification of some species of the genus Sylvilagus. The skins, on the contrary, are essential for the identification of the species of the genus Lepus in central Mexico and in the Great Basin of the western United States. Consequently, it has been impossible to construct a key based on external characters only or on cranial features only. Furthermore, the only apparent differences between a given pair of species in one region may not be apparent in another region where the same two species occur together. A case in point is provided by Sylvilagus floridanus and Sylvilagus nuttallii where the Great Plains meet the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains and where the Sonoran desert meets the southwestern flank of these mountains. The details are described by Hall and Kelson (1951:52, 53) and are indicated in the part of the accompanying artificial key that takes out the species Sylvilagus nuttallii. Because of this geographic change in specific characters and because of the slight amount of difference between certain species of leporids, I have frequently resorted to geography, instead of to morphology alone, in constructing the artificial key. Despite this fault of the key to the lagomorphs, it, and the accompanying account, I hope, will aid workers who need to identify kinds of lagomorphs and to know about their geographic distribution.

Another reason for presenting a synopsis of the lagomorphs at this time is that the presentation may bring suggestions for improvement in the arrangement of the kind of information presented here; an account along similar lines for all of the kinds of mammals native to North America is in prospect. Corrections of, and additions to, the material presented here will be welcomed and I shall be especially grateful for suggestions as to a more useful arrangement of the data.

In arranging the families, genera and species the aim has been, in each category, to list the most primitive members first and to list last the one which presents the highest total of specialization. The term total of specialization is used here, as Miller (1924:2) used it, to denote the sum of the physical modifications which any mammal, or taxonomic category of mammals, is supposed by the author to have undergone during the course of its development away from its original or generalized mammalian stock.

Subspecies of any one species are arranged alphabetically. On the maps, of course, the subspecies are shown in their correct geographic positions.

For each subspecies, or species if it has not been divided into subspecies, there is given (1) the accepted scientific name (selected in accordance with the rules of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature); (2) a citation to the account in which the terminal part of the name was first proposed (the original description of zoological parlance) followed by a statement of the type locality; (3) a citation to the account in which the combination of names (generic, specific and subspecific) used in the present account first was employed unless the name combination used here is the same as that in the original description; (4) synonyms arranged in chronological order, and (5) marginal record stations of occurrence.

These marginal records are arranged in clockwise order beginning with the northernmost locality. If more than one of the marginal localities lies on the line of latitude that is northernmost for a given kind of mammal, the westernmost of these is recorded first. The marginal localities that are represented by symbols on the corresponding distribution map are in Roman type. Italic type is used for those marginal localities that could not be represented by symbols on the map because undue crowding, or overlapping, of the symbols would have occurred. An understanding of how these localities are arranged and knowledge as to which of these localities are shown on the map will permit a person to associate any symbol on a map with its corresponding place name.

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