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SPECIES Lepus (? [see comments under species]) capensis

Author:Linnaeus, 1758.
Citation:Sys. Nat., 10th ed., 1: 58.
Common Name:Cape Hare
Type Locality:"ad Cap. b. Spei" [South Africa, Cape of Good Hope].
Distribution:As construed in the past, a single species (capensis sensu lato) inhabits Africa and the Near East in two separate, non-forested areas: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, S Angola, S Zambia (?), Mozambique; and to the north, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, countries of the Sahel and Sahara, and N Africa; thence eastward through the Sinai to the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, S Syria, S Israel and W and S Iraq, west of the Euphrates River (Harrison and Bates, 1991; Hufnagl, 1972; Kingdon, 1997; Kowalski and Rezebik-Kowalska, 1991; Smith, 1985). However, there is no evidence of gene flow between the South African populations, and those "capensis" in East, West and North Africa, and the intervening areas are inhabited by other species of Lepus, particularly L. microtis). Herein, the name capensis will be restricted to the South African hare, and other names applied to East and North African, and Arabian-Near Eastern hares. This informal subdivision of capensis sensu lato creates four groups that might be considered as distinct species. However, pending sufficient data at this point to support a formal revision, this arrangement best reflects the poorly known relationships of the taxa.
Status:IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).
Comments:Subgenus Proeulagus (Gureev, 1964:202) or Eulagos (Averianov, 1998). Includes arabicus; formerly included europaeus, corsicanus, granatensis, and tolai; see Corbet (1978c: 71), Angermann (1983:20), and Harrison and Bates (1991). Formerly included habessinicus, but Azzaroli-Puccetti (1987a, b) considered habessinicus distinct. The enigmatic form connori, often placed in capensis (Corbet, 1978c; Harrison and Bates, 1991) is provisionally placed in europaeus on the basis of pelage characteristics; see Angermann (1983:19). Most Russian authors consider tolai (including tibetanus) a distinct species; see Gromov and Baranova (1981:65); but also see Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987:229). Sludskii et al. (1980:58, 85) indicated an area of sympatry between europaeus and tolai in Kazakhstan. Sokolov and Orlov (1980:85) considered tibetanus a distinct species. Arabian forms may be specifically distinct (Flux and Angermann, 1990); Angermann (1983:19) noted pronounced "size" groups within arabicus. These are arabicus (largest, gray), cheesmani (with insular atallahi) (smaller, buffy), and omanensis (with insular jeffreyi)(smallest, gray). See also Lepus tibetanus.
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Offspring:

SUBSPECIES capensis

SUBSPECIES aquilo

SUBSPECIES carpi

SUBSPECIES granti

SUBSPECIES aegyptius

SUBSPECIES hawkeri

SUBSPECIES isabellinus

SUBSPECIES sinaiticus

SUBSPECIES arabicus

SUBSPECIES schlumbergeri

SUBSPECIES atlanticus

SUBSPECIES whitakeri

Synonyms:


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