''Palaeolagus'' ('ancient hare') is an extinct genus of lagomorph. ''Palaeolagus'' lived in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

and

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

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 analysis have recovered it as a close relative of the last common ancestor of living Leporidae and Ochotonidae, as it displays a

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

of characters typical of both groups. 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 long creature closely resembled modern

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s. They were common herbivorous inhabitants of the savanna, plains and woodlands of North America 30 million years ago.

Gallery

File:Palaeolagus haydeni skull.jpg, left, ''P. haydeni'' skull File:Palaeolagus NT small.jpg, left, Restoration of ''P. haydeni''

References

Oligocene mammals of North America Prehistoric lagomorphs White River Fauna Prehistoric placental genera Oligocene extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1856 {{lagomorph-stub