PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Lepus (hare)

Osteichthyes - Lagomorpha - Leporidae

Taxonomy

Lepus was named by Linnaeus (1758). It is extant.

It was assigned to Glires by Linnaeus (1758); to Duplicidentata by Illiger (1811); to Leporinorum by Fischer de Waldheim (1817); to Leporina by Gray (1825); to Rodentia by Leidy (1860); to Leporinae by Dawson (1958), Kurten and Anderson (1980); and to Leporidae by Hay (1902), Schultz and Howard (1935), McKenna and Bell (1997), Eshelman et al. (2025).

Species

L. alleni (syn. L. giganteus), L. americanus, L. arcticus, L. benjamini, L. californicus, L. callotis, L. capensis, L. europaeus, L. othus, L. somaliensis, L. timidus (syn. L. variabilis, L. hibernicus), L. townsendii (syn. L. campestris), L. whytei

Species lacking formal opinion data

L. americanus, L. crashawi, L. etruscus, L. granatensis, L. laskarevi, L. mediterraneus, L. nigricollis, L. praetimidus, L. saxatilis, L. saxatilis, L. tanaiticus, L. terraerubrae, L. timid, L. tolai, L. valdarnensis, L. wongi

Entered

by J. Alroy on 2003-01-23; modified by M. Uhen on 2019-11-30

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1758	Lepus Linnaeus p. 57
1811	Lepus Illiger p. 91
1817	Lepus Fischer de Waldheim p. 409
1825	Lepus Gray p. 341
1860	Lepus Leidy p. 113
1902	Lepus Hay p. 736
1935	Lepus Schultz and Howard p. 278
1958	Lepus Dawson p. 60
1980	Lepus Kurten and Anderson p. 281
1997	Lepus McKenna and Bell
2025	Lepus Eshelman et al. p. 94

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
class	Osteichthyes
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()

Rank	Name	Author
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Euarchontoglires	Murphy et al. 2001
—	Gliriformes	Wyss and Meng 1996
—	Glires	()
—	Duplicidentata	()
order	Lagomorpha	Brandt 1885
family	Leporidae
subfamily	Leporinae	Trouessart 1880
genus	Lepus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Lepus Linnaeus 1758 [hare]

show all | hide all

Lepus alleni Mearns 1890 [antelope jackrabbit]

hide

Invalid names: Lepus giganteus Brown 1908 [synonym]

Lepus americanus Erxleben 1777 [snowshoe hare]

Lepus arcticus Ross 1819

†Lepus benjamini Hay 1921

Lepus californicus Gray 1837 [black-tailed jackrabbit]

Lepus callotis Wagler 1830

Lepus capensis Linnaeus 1758 [cape hare]

Lepus europaeus Pallas 1778 [European hare]

Lepus othus Merriam 1900

Lepus somaliensis Heuglin 1861

Lepus timidus Linnaeus 1758 [mountain hare]

hide

Invalid names: Lepus hibernicus Bell 1837 [synonym], Lepus variabilis Pallas 1778 [synonym]

Lepus townsendii Bachman 1839 [white-tailed jackrabbit]

hide

Invalid names: Lepus campestris Bachman 1837 [synonym]

Lepus whytei Thomas 1894

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

part	N	mean

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingf

Diet:

grazerf

Diet 2:

browserf

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2005-06-08 10:11:09

Modified:

2005-08-26 13:52:57

Source: f = family, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Hendy et al. 2009, Lillegraven 1979, Carroll 1988, Ji et al. 2002, Nowak 1991

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Tortonian to the top of the Holocene or 11.63000 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 7.246 Ma

Collections (355 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Miocene	23.04 - 5.333	Ukraine	Lepus sp. (75853)
Tortonian	11.63 - 7.246	Moldova	Lepus laskarevi (75802 75803)
Tortonian	11.63 - 7.246	Ukraine	Lepus laskarevi (75800)
Late/Upper Miocene	11.63 - 5.333	Moldova (Tighina Departement)	Lepus sp. (36139)
Tortonian - Zanclean	11.63 - 3.6	Ethiopia	Lepus sp. (22139)
Messinian	7.246 - 5.333	Bulgaria	Lepus timidus (215636)
Messinian - Piacenzian	7.246 - 2.58	South Africa (Cape)	Lepus capensis (59167)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Kazakhstan	Lepus sp. (76289)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	Kenya	Lepus sp. (22234)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	Kenya (Turkana District)	Lepus sp. (21336)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Ukraine (Odessa)	Lepus sp. (76548 76552)
Ruscinian	5.09 - 3.55	Spain (Soria)	Lepus sp. (40548)
Blancan	4.7 - 1.4	USA (California)	Lepus sp. (19726)
Blancan	4.7 - 1.4	USA (Nebraska)	Lepus californicus (19954)
Blancan	4.7 - 1.4	Mexico (Sonora)	Lepus sp. (20322)
Blancan	4.7 - 1.4	Greenland	Lepus sp. (20082)
MN 15 - MN 16	4.16 - 2.245	Ukraine	Lepus laskarevi (50943)
Late/Upper Pliocene	3.6 - 2.58	Morocco	Lepus sp. (32052)
Late/Upper Pliocene	3.6 - 2.58	Egypt (Al Buhayrah)	Lepus sp. (42119)
Late/Upper Pliocene - Pleistocene	3.6 - 0.0117	South Africa	Lepus sp. (22332)