Prolagus

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 Sardinian pika, on Corsica, Sardinia, and their surrounding islands, where it survived into historical times. In North Africa and Western Asia, the genus is known from the Miocene and Pliocene. The scientific name may mean "before hares" or "primitive hares". Its taxonomy is disputed, with it either being considered a member of the family Ochotonidae, which includes living pikas, or the only member of the family Prolagidae.

Prolagus

Unknown author Unknown author · Public Domain · 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
Sits inside
OchotonidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ochotonidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ochotonidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 194 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 194 occurrencesMiocene — about 129 of 194 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 32 of 194 occurrencesPleistocene — about 29 of 194 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 5 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 6 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 17 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 21 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 14 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 11 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 10 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 15 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 19 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 14 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

194 occurrences of Prolagus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

194 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

28 formations

facies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°ELefkon — 41.13°N, 23.48°ELefkon — 41.18°N, 23.42°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°ELefkon — 40.78°N, 24.03°ELower Freshwater Molasse — 46.88°N, 7.11°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.15°N, 9.88°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WSpilia — 41.15°N, 23.48°ERavin de Ratavoux — 43.78°N, 5.45°EAlcala — 39.20°N, 1.37°WAlcala — 39.22°N, 1.52°WValdeganga — 39.15°N, 1.67°WBrackwater Molasse — 48.48°N, 10.10°EChâteauredon — 44.02°N, 6.22°ELower Bone Bed — 39.25°N, 8.68°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 1.02°WVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WSanta Maria di Ciciliano — 42.65°N, 12.49°EAlhambra — 37.24°N, 3.61°WAntonios — 40.50°N, 23.00°ESant Onofre — 40.76°N, 0.59°ELower Unit — 40.12°N, 0.68°WMiocene Lower Continental Complex — 41.44°N, 2.00°EGuadix — 37.42°N, 3.17°WCigarron — 37.92°N, 1.16°WGonia — 40.37°N, 23.11°EOlesa-Les Fonts alluvial system — 41.54°N, 2.06°E

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The named rock units Prolagus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 139 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Prolagus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Prolagus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,745 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 181 sites for Prolagus, and this reads all 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

95 references

Each of the 194 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. 83 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 Prolagus

Credit
Unknown author Unknown author
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Prolagus sp. · UNIBO:aDNA:PR6

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itOchotonidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Pomel 1853