Nesolagus is a genus of
Taxonomy
Until 1996, the only known species belonging to the genus
Nesolagus was the Sumatran striped rabbit (
Nesolagus netscheri), a species restricted to the Sumatran mountain range of
Bukit Barisan which was described in 1880 (as
Lepus netscheri)
by German naturalist
Hermann Schlegel.
The name
Nesolagus was erected by Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major in 1899, though he did not clarify if it should describe a genus on its own or a subgenus of
Caprolagus;
it was solidified as a genus containing the Sumatran striped rabbit in 1904 by Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. in his work
Classification of the Hares and their Allies.
The genus Nesolagus includes three species, one extinct:
-
Nesolagus netscheri, Sumatran striped rabbit
-
Nesolagus timminsi, Annamite striped rabbit
-
Nesolagus sinensis,
According to phylogenetic analysis performed by Leandro Iraçabal and colleagues in 2024, the genus is thought to have evolved in the Miocene epoch. Its sister clade is a group that includes the red rock hares ( Pronolagus) and the Bunyoro rabbit ( Poelagus marjorita):
Behavior
Due to the small number of individuals, and because of the rare sightings of this genus, there is not much information available on its behavior. One thing that we do know however, is that the Sumatran rabbit is nocturnal and hides out in burrows which it does not make itself and does not really like to go out looking for food for itself in places that are too far from its home.
Description
Descriptions of the species are partly based on images made by
; for the Sumatran striped rabbit the cameras were set in the montane forests of Sumatra, while the Annamite Striped rabbit was seen in the Annamite mountain range of Laos and Vietnam.
Both species of striped rabbit have seven brown or black stripes and a red rump and white underside. They are the only species of rabbits to have stripes. They are relatively small with a length of about , with a tail of about and ears about long. Thus the ears of
Nesolagus are only about half as long as in most rabbits, e.g. in the genus
Lepus. Their fur is soft and dense, overlaid by longer, harsher hairs.
Distribution
Striped rabbits are found in only four locations. The Sumatran striped rabbit has been found in the Barisan Mountains in western
Sumatra,
Indonesia, and the Annamite striped rabbit has been found in the
Annamite Range mountains on the border between
Vietnam and
Laos.
The fossils (parts of the left mandible with several teeth) of the extinct
Nesolagus sinensis were found in Chongzou Ecological Park in the
Guangxi province of southwest China.
