Dice's cottontail (''Sylvilagus dicei'') is a species of cottontail rabbit in the family Leporidae. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and Panama, in

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

and

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

habitats.

Taxonomy

Dice's cottontail was first described by William P. Harris, Jr., in 1932. It was at one time thought to be a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

common tapetí The common tapeti (''Sylvilagus brasiliensis''), also known as the Brazilian cottontail, forest cottontail, or (formerly) simply tapeti is a species of cottontail rabbit. It is small to medium-sized with a small, dark tail, short hind feet, and s ...

or forest cottontail (''Sylvilagus brasiliensis'') but is now recognised as a separate species. The type locality is El Copey de Dota, in the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica, at .

Description

Dice's cottontail is one of the larger cottontail rabbits. Its back is dappled black and brown and its flanks greyish-black. The blackish tail is tiny and the underparts are dull white. It has a brown patch on its throat.

Distribution and habitat

Dice's cottontail is endemic to the Cordillera de Talamanca which straddles the border between Panama and Costa Rica. Its habitat is Alpine meadows and

Páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

grasslands above the tree line. It also occurs in the oak-dominated

s and high elevation shrublands at an altitude of up to in Cerro Chirripó.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

lists Dice's cottontail in its Red Book of Endangered Species as "

Data Deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

" as the species has been little studied and its population trend is unknown, but in 1996, it was listed as " Endangered". The IUCN has identified a number of threats that it may face.

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

s have become established in the area and may prey on it, and other predators may also be on the increase. Degradation of the forest land is taking place as trees are cut down and the land turned to pasture. Fire is also a concern because the local inhabitants regularly burn the land for range control and this may result in loss of grass for forage and loss of suitable vegetation cover in which the cottontail can lie up by day. These factors are causing the animal's range to contract upward into the mountains; this area is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

, which should provide some protection to the species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1209386 Sylvilagus Mammals of Central America Mammals described in 1832 Páramo fauna Taxonomy articles created by Polbot