Lepus

Hares are mammals belonging to the genus Lepus. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in depressions in the ground called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genus includes the largest lagomorphs. Most are fast runners with long, powerful hind legs, and large ears that dissipate body heat. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia and North America. A hare less than one year old is called a leveret. A group of hares may be called either a husk or a down.

Lepus

Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
harePBDB
Sits inside
LeporinaePBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Leporidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Leporidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 378 occurrencesMiocene — about 7 of 378 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 13 of 378 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 274 of 378 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 35 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 60 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 252 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

378 occurrences of Lepus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

378 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

42 formations

"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.01°N, 36.00°EKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.48°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WNubia — 22.88°N, 30.64°ENubia — 22.50°N, 30.75°EPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WOcotillo — 32.90°N, 117.10°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WFloral — 52.20°N, 106.70°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EMatadero Saldungaray — 38.25°S, 61.75°WMatadero Saldungaray — 38.75°S, 61.75°WKuchurgan sands — 47.93°N, 33.22°EKuchurgan sands — 47.08°N, 29.85°ECrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WLong Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WKap Kobenhavn — 82.50°N, 50.00°WSeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WTacubaya — 21.80°N, 102.30°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°W

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The named rock units Lepus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 309 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lepus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lepus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,882 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 354 sites for Lepus, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

216 references

Each of the 378 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 204 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Lepus

Credit
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lepus timidus · none:none

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLeporinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758