The red rock hares are the four

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Pronolagus''. They are

lagomorph The lagomorphs () are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (rabbits and hares) and the Ochotonidae ( pikas). There are 110 recent species of lagomorph, of which 109 species in t ...

s of the family

Leporidae Leporidae () 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 ...

living in rocky habitats across Africa. Three species are restricted to

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

, while one— Smith's red rock hare (''P. rupestris'')—is found as far north as Kenya. The red rock hares are

rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish- red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a d ...

, dark brown, or reddish-brown-tailed

s that vary in size, with some shared physical characteristics being short ears and a lack of an interpareital bone. They have 42

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

s and are active during the night, feeding only on plants. Breeding results in litters of one to two

altricial Precocial species in birds and mammals are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. They are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Altricial ...

young. The red rock hares have a varied taxonomic history. Initially described as members of the genus ''Lepus'' or ''Oryctolagus'', the genus ''Pronolagus'' was proposed in 1904 to describe a skeleton of '' Pronolagus crassicaudatus'', which was at that time labeled under the genus ''Lepus''. This would become the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the red rock hare genus. Since then, of the currently accepted members, two new species have been described as members of ''Pronolagus—'' Jameson's red rock hare (''P. randensis'') and Hewitt's red rock hare (''P. saundersiae'', originally a subspecies of ''P. rupestris'')—while the third, Smith's red rock hare, was described in 1834 as ''Lepus rupestris''. Two extinct species have been proposed, but one is a ''

nomen oblitum In zoological nomenclature, a ''nomen oblitum'' (plural: ''nomina oblita''; Latin for "forgotten name") is a disused scientific name which has been declared to be obsolete (figuratively "forgotten") in favor of another "protected" name. In its pr ...

''. All members of ''Pronolagus'' are considered

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN), but there are few conservation measures that apply to the red rock hares. Excepting Hewitt's red rock hare, there are seasonal hunting regulations that restrict hunting red rock hares, and various

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s and

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

s intersect the

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

s of each species; however, the expansion of commercial

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s has led to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, and the population of red rock hares is expected to decrease.

Taxonomy and evolution

Species in this genus had previously been classified in the genus ''

Lepus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'', as done by J. E. Gray in 1867, or in '' Oryctolagus'', as done by Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major in 1899. Various taxonomic interpretations have been applied to these species. The genus ''Pronolagus'' was proposed by Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. in 1904, based on a skeleton that had been labeled ''Lepus crassicaudatus'' . Lyon later acknowledged the work of

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

and Harold Schwann, which argued that particular specimen belonged to a species they named ''Pronolagus ruddi'' ; he wrote that the type species "should stand as '' Pronolagus crassicaudatus'' (not ) = ''Pronolagus ruddi'' ". ''P. ruddi'' is no longer regarded as its own species, but rather a subspecies of ''P. crassicaudatus''. In the 1950s, John Ellerman and Terence Morrison-Scott classified ''

Poelagus The Bunyoro rabbit or Uganda grass hare (''Poelagus marjorita'') is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae. It is the monotypic, only member of the genus ''Poelagus''. It is a medium-sized ( long), greyish-brown furred, Nocturnality, noctu ...

'' as a subgenus of ''Pronolagus''. B. G. Lundholm regarded '' Pronolagus randensis'' as a synonym of ''P. crassicaudatus''. Neither of these classifications received much support. Proposed species in this genus include: * ''P. melanurus'' (Now a synonym of ''P. rupestris'') * ''P. ruddi'' (Now a synonym or subspecies of ''P. crassicaudatus'') * ''P. intermedius'' (''

Nomen oblitum In zoological nomenclature, a ''nomen oblitum'' (plural: ''nomina oblita''; Latin for "forgotten name") is a disused scientific name which has been declared to be obsolete (figuratively "forgotten") in favor of another "protected" name. In its pr ...

'' and unrecognized since at least 1939) * ''P. caucinus'' (Now a synonym or subspecies of ''P. randensis'') * ''P. whitei'' (Now a synonym or subspecies of ''P. randensis'') * ''P. barretti'' (Now a synonym of ''P. saundersiae'') * '' P. humpatensis''

Extant species

This

contains the following species:

Fossils

A fossil skull of an animal in this genus was found in South Africa; Henry Lyster Jameson named the species ''Pronolagus intermedius'' as it was described as being intermediate between ''P. crassiacaudatus'' and ''P. ruddi''. Future studies did not mention this fossil species at all, resulting in it becoming a ''nomen oblitum''. Further investigation into the fossil record of ''Pronolagus'' has recognized the extinct species ''P. humpatensis'' from Angola's Humpata Plateau, a small red rock hare of size comparable to that of wild

European rabbit The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal and Andorra) and southwestern France. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Oryctolagus''. The European rab ...

s or ''P. rupestris''. This extinct species dates back to the early

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. Detailed study of the skeletal characteristics of ''Pronolagus'' was not undertaken until the 2020s, where it was noted that as of 2010, "none of the fossil ''Pronolagus'' material adbeen described". The study noted that the earliest appearances of the genus were in the early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Langebaanweg and

Makapansgat Makapansgat () (or Makapan Valley World Heritage Site) is an archaeological location within the Makapansgat and Zwartkrans Valleys, northeast of Mokopane in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is an important palaeontological site, with the loca ...

. Documentation of the history of

s across the whole of Africa has been described as "poor", though fossils of three

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

are present there—

Ochotonidae A pika ( , or ) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal native to Asia and North America. With short limbs, a very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative the rabbit, but with short, rounded ears. ...

, and the extinct

Prolagidae ''Prolagus'' is an extinct genus of lagomorph. Over 20 species have been named, and the genus was abundant and widespread in Europe during the Neogene. However, by the end of the Middle Pleistocene, it was confined to a single species, the Sardin ...

Phylogeny

All species in this genus have 21 pairs of

chromosomes A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most importa ...

(2n = 42). The

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is discerned by de ...

for ''P. rupestris'' has been published. The ''Pronolagus'' chromosomes have undergone four fusions and one fission from the

Lagomorpha The lagomorphs () are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (rabbits and hares) and the Ochotonidae ( pikas). There are 110 recent species of lagomorph, of which 109 species in t ...

ancestral state (2n = 48), which resembles the karyotype of ''

''. The

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

relationships between members of ''Pronolagus'' and the rest of the African leporids are described by the following

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

, derived from work by Matthee et al., 2004: Molecular genetic analysis places ''

'' as the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of ''Pronolagus'', which aligns somewhat with the views of Ellerman and Morrison-Scott that the two genera were

congeneric Congener may refer to: * Congener (biology), organisms within the same genus * Congener (chemistry), related chemicals, e.g., elements in the same group of the periodic table * Congener (beverages), a substance other than ethanol produced during t ...

. ''Poelagus'' and ''Pronolagus'' are considered part of a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

with '' Nesolagus''. These genera likely arose from an ancestral leporid arriving from Asia and spreading to various parts of Africa during the middle

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, with a specific

vicariance Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

event that separated ''Nesolagus'' from the other African leporids occurring . Of the four species in ''Pronolagus'', the Natal red rock hare is the most basal (closest to the base of the

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...

), followed by Jameson's red rock hare, Smith's red rock hare, and finally Hewitt's red rock hare. Studies in the 1990s discovered evidence of separate genetic lineages in ''P. rupestris'', which led to the separation of ''P. saundersiae'' as a distinct species. These two species do not overlap in distribution, and can be distinguished by differences in skeletal

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

Characteristics

The red rock hares are of varying size, but are readily distinguished from other

leporid Leporidae () 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 ...

s in Southern Africa by their reddish-brown to dark brown colored tail and short () ears. Their fur is grey near the head and reddish along the limbs. Some characteristics of animals in this genus include the lack of an

interparietal bone An interparietal bone (os interparietale or Inca bone or ''os inca var.'') is a dermal bone situated between the parietal and supraoccipital. It is homologous to the postparietal bones of other animals. In humans, it corresponds to the upper ...

in adults, a mesopterygoid space which is narrower than the minimal length of the

hard palate The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate made up of two bones of the facial skeleton, located in the roof of the mouth. The bones are the palatine process of the maxilla and the horizontal plate of palatine bone. The hard palate spans ...

, and the lack of a stripe along its jaw.

Distribution and habitat

The varied and often

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

of the red rock hares has been attributed to the rocky habitat of the species within the genus, as they do not inhabit plains or forests. Red rock hares are found in rocky kopjes, hills and mountainsides where scrub and grass is available. They rarely venture far from this habitat.

Behavior and ecology

Red rock hares are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, though Jameson's red rock hare has been observed sunning in the early morning. They are

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

and are particularly inclined to eating newly sprouted

grasses Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

that arise after a fire. Though red rock hares are generally solitary creatures, they have been observed in groups while grazing. Some species, such as Smith's red rock hare, produce sounds when distressed. In regions where species are

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

, as is the case in some parts of South Africa, individuals are separated by differing preferences in habitat altitude; Hewitt's red rock hare is generally found at higher altitudes with more rainfall than the other red rock hares, which prefer drier, lower locations. Breeding seasons vary between species, and some populations of the Natal and Jameson's red rock hare appear to breed year-round. Pregnancies typically result in the production of 1 to 2 young per litter, which are born

. Nests are simple and are constructed at the base of shrubs in the rabbit's habitat.

Threats

The red rock hares are considered abundant throughout their ranges, but are threatened by

due to expanding commercial plantations. Predators of the red rock hares include

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

s and

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

, such as

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

Verreaux's eagle Verreaux's eagle (''Aquila verreauxii'') is a large, mostly African, bird of prey. It is also called the black eagle, especially in southern Africa, not to be confused with the black eagle (''Ictinaetus malayensis'') of south and southeast Asia. ...

s, and Cape eagle-owls. Pythons and

black eagle The black eagle (''Ictinaetus malaiensis'') is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Ictinaetus''. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South a ...

s are also potential predators.

Conservation

Excepting Hewitt's red rock hare, the newest species to be classified as part of ''Pronolagus'', the red rock hares are protected by seasonal hunting regulations that restrict the periods in which these hares can be hunted. There are protected areas and national parks that incidentally intersect with the distributions of each species in ''Pronolagus''. Estimates place the adult population of each species over 10,000, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers all four species to be of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

, but notes that the populations of both the Natal red rock hare and Jameson's red rock hare are decreasing.

Taxonomy and evolution

Extant species

Fossils

Phylogeny

Characteristics

Distribution and habitat

Behavior and ecology

Threats

Conservation

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading