Palaeolagus

Palaeolagus Temporal range: Late Eocene to Oligocene, [1] 35–23  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Palaeolagus haydeni
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Lagomorpha
Genus:	† Palaeolagus Leidy, 1856
Species
†P. burkei †P. haydeni †P. hemirhizis †P. hypsodus †P. intermedius †P. philoi †P. primus †P. temnodon

Palaeolagus ('ancient hare') is an extinct genus of lagomorph. ^[2] Palaeolagus lived in the Eocene ^[3] and Oligocene epochs of North America.

Taxonomy

The fossil remains of rabbits are scanty and those specimens that have been found are often too fragmentary to determine satisfactory the relationship with living forms. Most recent phylogenetic analyses have recovered it as a close relative of the last common ancestor of living Leporidae and Ochotonidae, as it displays a mosaic of characters typical of both groups. ^[4] The bones of rabbits and hares are lightweight and fragile in structure, and so they are not easily preserved as fossils. Most of the species are inhabitants of uplands where conditions are not ideal for preservation. In a few deposits, rabbit remains seem numerous but many fossil species are known only from a few teeth and bones.

Description

The 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long creature closely resembled modern rabbits. They were common herbivorous inhabitants of the savannas, plains, and woodlands of North America 30 million years ago.^{[ citation needed ]}

Palaeoecology

Gross dental wear of Palaeolagus temnodon from the Horse Local Fauna of the Cypress Hills Formation of Saskatchewan shows that frugivory was its predominant dietary mode. ^[5]

Gallery

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  P. haydeni skull
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  Restoration of P. haydeni

References

1. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 285. ISBN   1-84028-152-9.
2. Haaramo, Mikko (2008-03-11). "Mikko's Phylogeny archive" . Retrieved 2009-02-01.
3. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Archived from the original on January 21, 2022.
4. Wolniewicz, Andrzej S.; Fostowicz-Frelik, Łucja (2021). "CT-Informed Skull Osteology of Palaeolagus haydeni (Mammalia: Lagomorpha) and Its Bearing on the Reconstruction of the Early Lagomorph Body Plan". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 9. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.634757 . ISSN   2296-701X.
5. Fraser, Danielle; Theodor, Jessica M. (1 July 2010). "The use of gross dental wear in dietary studies of extinct lagomorphs" . Journal of Paleontology . 84 (4): 720–729. doi:10.1666/09-066.1. ISSN   0022-3360 . Retrieved 29 September 2025– via Cambridge Core.

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