The Hewitt's red rock hare (Pronolagus saundersiae) is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae. It had previously been classified as a subspecies of Pronolagus rupestris, but is now regarded as its own species due to differences in morphology and genetic differences in cytochrome b, and 12S rRNA.[8]
| Hewitt's red rock hare | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Lagomorpha |
| Family: | Leporidae |
| Genus: | Pronolagus |
| Species: | P. saundersiae |
| Binomial name | |
| Pronolagus saundersiae | |
 | |
| Hewitt Red Rock Hare range | |
| Synonyms[6][7] | |
Taxonomic history
This species was named by John Hewitt (1880–1961), who was the director of the Albany Museum, South Africa.[9] Hewitt originally described this taxon as a subspecies of Pronolagus crassicaudatus in his 1927 description.[7] Its type locality was Grahamstown.[10][11]
He described this taxon based and skulls from Albany district, collected by Enid Saunders and Frank Bowker; the species is named after Saunders.[12]
It was later classified as a subspecies of Pronolagus rupestris by various zoologists,[13] including Ellerman, Morrison-Scott and Hayman,[10] as well as Hoffman and Smith for the third edition of Mammal Species of the World.[6]
Works which list it as its own species include: the IUCN Red List,[1] Mammals of Africa,[7] and Jonathan Kingdon's field guide.[14]
References
Works cited
- Hewitt, John (1927). "On several new Rodents in the Albany Museum". Records of the Albany Museum. 3 (5): 430–440; Plates 26, 27.
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Further reading
- Matthee, Conrad A.; Robinson, Terence J. (1996). "Mitochondrial DNA differentiation among geographical populations of Pronolagus rupestris, Smith's red rock rabbit (Mammalia: Lagomorpha)". Heredity. 76 (5): 514–523. doi:10.1038/hdy.1996.74. PMID 8666547.
- Collins, K. (2005). "Order Lagomorpha". In Skinner, John D.; Chimimba, Christian T. (eds.). The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 73. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107340992.013. ISBN 9780521844185.