Pronolagus

The red rock hares are the four species of rabbit in the genus Pronolagus. They are lagomorphs of the family Leporidae living in rocky habitats across Africa. Three species are restricted to Southern Africa, while one—Smith's red rock hare —is found as far north as Kenya. The red rock hares are rufous, dark brown, or reddish-brown-tailed rabbits that vary in size, with some shared physical characteristics being short ears and a lack of an interpareital bone. They have 42 chromosomes and are active during the night, feeding only on plants. Breeding results in litters of one to two altricial young.

Pronolagus

Sebastian Wallroth · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
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 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 9 occurrencesPliocene — about 5 of 9 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 3 of 9 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 9 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

9 occurrences of Pronolagus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

9 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

2 formations

Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E

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The named rock units Pronolagus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pronolagus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Pronolagus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

241 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Pronolagus, 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

8 references

Each of the 9 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. 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 content1

Picture of Pronolagus

Credit
Sebastian Wallroth
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Pronolagus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itLeporinae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lyon 1904