Pronolagus | |
---|---|
Illustration of P. crassicaudatus from Geoffroy, 1832 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | Leporidae |
Genus: |
Pronolagus Lyon, 1904 [1] [2] |
Type species | |
Lepus crassicaudatus
I. Geoffroy, 1832
| |
Species | |
The red rock hares are the four species in the genus Pronolagus. [3] [4] They are African lagomorphs of the family Leporidae.
Species in this genus had previously been classified in the genus Lepus, as done by J. E. Gray, [5] or in Oryctolagus, as done by Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major. [6]
The genus Pronolagus was proposed by Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. in 1904, based on a skeleton that had been labeled Lepus crassicaudatus I. Geoffroy, 1832. [2] Lyon later acknowledged the work of Oldfield Thomas and Harold Schwann, which argued that particular specimen belonged to a species they named Pronolagus ruddi Thomas and Schwann 1905; [7] he wrote that the type species "should stand as Pronolagus crassicaudatus Lyon (not Geoffroy) = Pronolagus ruddi Thomas and Schwann". [8]
P. ruddi is no longer regarded as its own species, but rather a subspecies of P. crassicaudatus. [9] [1]
In the 1950s, John Ellerman and Terence Morrison-Scott classified Poelagus as a subgenus of Pronolagus. [10] [9] B. G. Lundholm regarded P. randensis as a synonym of P. crassicaudatus. [11] Neither of these classifications received much support. [12]
Previously proposed species in this genus include:
This genus contains the following species:
Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Natal red rock hare | Pronolagus crassicaudatus I. Geoffroy, 1832 | southeastern provinces of South Africa (Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal), eastern Lesotho, Swaziland (Highveld and Lumbobo), and southern Mozambique (Maputo Province). | |
Jameson's red rock hare | Pronolagus randensis Jameson, 1907 | Zimbabwe and Namibia | |
Smith's red rock hare | Pronolagus rupestris A. Smith, 1834 | Kenya (Rift Valley), Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rhodesia, South Africa (Northern Cape, Free State, and North West), Tanzania and Zambia. | |
Hewitt's red rock hare | Pronolagus saundersiae Hewitt, 1927 (used to be included in Pronolagus rupestris [12] [18]). | South Africa |
Some characteristics of animals in this genus include: the lack of an interparietal bone in adults, a mesopterygoid space which is narrower than the minimal length of the hard palate, short ears (63–106 millimetres (2+1⁄2–4+1⁄4 inches)), and the lack of a stripe along its jaw. [19]
A fossil skull of an animal in this genus was found in South Africa; Henry Lyster Jameson named the species Pronolagus intermedius [a] as it was described as being intermediate between P. crassiacaudatus and P. ruddi. [14]
All species in this genus have 21 pairs of chromosomes (2n = 42). [19] [4] The karotype for P. rupestris has been published. [20] [21] The Pronolagus chromosomes have undergone four fusions and one fission from the Lagomorpha ancestral state (2n=48), which resembled the karotype of Lepus. [22]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Pronolagus | |
---|---|
Illustration of P. crassicaudatus from Geoffroy, 1832 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | Leporidae |
Genus: |
Pronolagus Lyon, 1904 [1] [2] |
Type species | |
Lepus crassicaudatus
I. Geoffroy, 1832
| |
Species | |
The red rock hares are the four species in the genus Pronolagus. [3] [4] They are African lagomorphs of the family Leporidae.
Species in this genus had previously been classified in the genus Lepus, as done by J. E. Gray, [5] or in Oryctolagus, as done by Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major. [6]
The genus Pronolagus was proposed by Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. in 1904, based on a skeleton that had been labeled Lepus crassicaudatus I. Geoffroy, 1832. [2] Lyon later acknowledged the work of Oldfield Thomas and Harold Schwann, which argued that particular specimen belonged to a species they named Pronolagus ruddi Thomas and Schwann 1905; [7] he wrote that the type species "should stand as Pronolagus crassicaudatus Lyon (not Geoffroy) = Pronolagus ruddi Thomas and Schwann". [8]
P. ruddi is no longer regarded as its own species, but rather a subspecies of P. crassicaudatus. [9] [1]
In the 1950s, John Ellerman and Terence Morrison-Scott classified Poelagus as a subgenus of Pronolagus. [10] [9] B. G. Lundholm regarded P. randensis as a synonym of P. crassicaudatus. [11] Neither of these classifications received much support. [12]
Previously proposed species in this genus include:
This genus contains the following species:
Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Natal red rock hare | Pronolagus crassicaudatus I. Geoffroy, 1832 | southeastern provinces of South Africa (Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal), eastern Lesotho, Swaziland (Highveld and Lumbobo), and southern Mozambique (Maputo Province). | |
Jameson's red rock hare | Pronolagus randensis Jameson, 1907 | Zimbabwe and Namibia | |
Smith's red rock hare | Pronolagus rupestris A. Smith, 1834 | Kenya (Rift Valley), Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rhodesia, South Africa (Northern Cape, Free State, and North West), Tanzania and Zambia. | |
Hewitt's red rock hare | Pronolagus saundersiae Hewitt, 1927 (used to be included in Pronolagus rupestris [12] [18]). | South Africa |
Some characteristics of animals in this genus include: the lack of an interparietal bone in adults, a mesopterygoid space which is narrower than the minimal length of the hard palate, short ears (63–106 millimetres (2+1⁄2–4+1⁄4 inches)), and the lack of a stripe along its jaw. [19]
A fossil skull of an animal in this genus was found in South Africa; Henry Lyster Jameson named the species Pronolagus intermedius [a] as it was described as being intermediate between P. crassiacaudatus and P. ruddi. [14]
All species in this genus have 21 pairs of chromosomes (2n = 42). [19] [4] The karotype for P. rupestris has been published. [20] [21] The Pronolagus chromosomes have undergone four fusions and one fission from the Lagomorpha ancestral state (2n=48), which resembled the karotype of Lepus. [22]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)