The Davis Mountains cottontail, robust cottontail or Holzner's cottontail (''Sylvilagus holzneri'') is a species of

cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are in the ''Sylvilagus'' genus, which is in the family Leporidae. They are found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characterist ...

native to high-altitude regions of the southwestern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and western

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Taxonomy

This species and the subspecies comprising it were long considered to be subspecies of the

eastern cottontail The eastern cottontail (''Sylvilagus floridanus'') is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is the most common rabbit species in North America. Distribution The eastern cottontail can be found in meadows and shrub ...

(''S. floridanus''), but were promoted to species level due to morphological analysis. Genetic data have confirmed the uniqueness of ''S. holzneri''. ''S. holzneri'' and ''S. floridanus'' are distinguished primarily by size, dental, and cranial differences.

Subspecies

According to genetic analysis, there are three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of ''S. holzneri'': * ''S. h. hesperius'': endemic to northwestern and central

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, from the Hualapai Mountains south to the Sierra Ancha. *''S. h. holzneri'': The most widespread subspecies, ranging throughout mountains from southeastern Arizona and south-central

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

(aside from the

Guadalupe Mountains The Guadalupe Mountains () are a mountain range located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The range includes the highest summit in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, , and the "signature peak" of West Texas, El Capitan, both of which are located wi ...

) south through

along the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

. *''S. h. robustus'' or Davis Mountains cottontail: historically, this subspecies was known to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to four mountain ranges. In

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, it was known in the

Davis Mountains The Davis Mountains, originally known as Limpia Mountains, are a range of mountains in West Texas, United States, located near Fort Davis, Texas, Fort Davis, after which they are named. The fort was named for then-United States Secretary of War ...

and Chisos Mountains. In New Mexico it was also known from the Guadalupe Mountains. In

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

, Mexico, it is known from the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that ...

mountain range. The Chisos and Guadalupe Mountains populations are suspected to be

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

. It is considered Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. All three of these were previously considered subspecies of ''S. floridanus''. One (''robustus'') was already resurrected as a distinct species in 1998, and was considered as such until being reclassified as a subspecies of the newly-resurrected ''holzneri'' in 2021, with the common name "robust cottontail" carrying over to ''holzneri''.

"Manzano Mountain cottontail"

The Manzano Mountain cottontail (''S. cognatus'') was a species of ''Sylvilagus'' also previously classified in ''S. floridanus'', until it was later reclassified as a distinct species. This species was thought to be restricted to the

Manzano Mountains The Manzano Mountains are a small mountain range in the central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico. They are oriented north–south and are 30 miles long. The center of the range lies due east of the town of Belen. The name "Manzano" is Sp ...

in New Mexico, where it occurs in

coniferous forest Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

s in high elevation, and was classified as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

. However, a 2021 phylogenetic analysis found ''S. cognatus'' to be indistinguishable from ''S. h. holzneri'' and synonymized it with ''holzneri''. This classification was followed by the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

Description

''S. holzneri'' typically averages a total length of 42 cm, and weighs between 1.3 and 1.8 kg. It is restricted to dry, brushy, mountains at elevations above 1500 meters.The mammals of Texas: 2nd edition
By David J. Schmidly, William B. Davis. 2004. pp. 466–467. University of Texas Press.

Conservation

Despite the rarity of ''S. h. robustus'', currently no governmental agency provides protection or listing for this subspecies.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q194815 Robust Cottontail Mammals of the United States Mammals of Mexico Mammals described in 1896 Taxa named by Edgar Alexander Mearns Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Fauna of the Sierra Madre Occidental Fauna of the Sierra Madre Oriental