A new species of cottontail rabbit (genus Sylvilagus) has been described from the lowlands of western Suriname by Portland State University Professor Luis Ruedas.
The Suriname lowland forest cottontail (Sylvilagus parentum). Image credit: UOL / IUCN.
Prof. Ruedas made the discovery after studying rabbit specimens at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands.
The specimens were collected in the 1980s by Dutch scientists during the fieldwork in Suriname.
The researcher studied the anatomy of the specimens and determined they were larger and shaped differently than other rabbits throughout South America.
He named the newfound species the Suriname lowland forest cottontail.
The scientific name of the species, Sylvilagus parentum, honors Prof. Ruedas’ parents, Patricio Ruedas Younger and Paloma Martín Daza.
“The rabbit discovery in South America could affect how animal species are identified as unique, which is an important step when determining if a species is endangered,” Prof. Ruedas said.
“It could also lead to conservation efforts in Suriname, where environmental degradation is threatening the rabbit’s habitat.”
Sylvilagus parentum is relatively large for a South American cottontail.
The species measures 15.3 inches (39 cm) in head and body length and 10 inches (2.5 cm) in tail length.
The length of the ears is about 2.4 inches (6 cm).
The average mass is around 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg).
The new species is described in a paper recently published in the online edition of the Journal of Mammalogy.
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Luis A. Ruedas. A new species of cottontail rabbit (Lagomorpha: Leporidae: Sylvilagus) from Suriname, with comments on the taxonomy of allied taxa from northern South America. Journal of Mammalogy, published online May 17, 2017; doi: 10.1093/jmammal/gyx048
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Publish date : 2017-06-14 03:00:00
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