Lagomorpha

Lagomorpha is a mammal order. It includes pikas, rabbits and hares. Although lagomorphs look like rodents, they are not rodents, but are closely related to them. They have four incisors on the upper jaw, not two as with rodents. Also, they only eat plant material, not meat as rodents do to some extent.

Lagomorphs[1] Temporal range: Eocene – Recent
Pika, Ochotona princeps, in Sequoia National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Eutheria
Superorder:	Euarchontoglires
Order:	Lagomorpha Brandt, 1855
Families
Leporidae Ochotonidae Prolagidae (extinct)

The European hare (Lepus europaeus).

Rabbits were classified under rodents until the 20th century.^[2][3] They are divided into two families: Leporidae, which are hares and rabbits, and Ochotonidae, the pikas.

It has been known for some time that Lagomorpha is an unusual group, and there have been many guesses about its evolution. Darren Naish explains this.^[4]

Taxonomy

• Order Lagomorpha
  • Family Ochotonidae (Pikas)
    • Genus Ochotona
  • Family Leporidae (rabbits and hares)
    • Genus Brachylagus
    • Genus Bunolagus
    • Genus Caprolagus
    • Genus Lepus
    • Genus Nesolagus
    • Genus Oryctolagus (includes the domestic rabbit)
    • Genus Pentalagus
    • Genus Poelagus
    • Genus Pronolagus
    • Genus Romerolagus
    • Genus Sylvilagus

References

1. Hoffmann, Robert S.; Smith, Andrew T. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 185–211. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
2. Gregory W.K. 1019. The orders of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 27.
3. Wood A.E 1957. What, if anything, is a rabbit? Evolution 11, 417–425.
4. Naish, Darren 2010. Tetrapod zoology 2010. Chapter 31, p183 et seq: The most freaky of all mammals: rabbits. ISBN 978-1-905723-61-4