Date: May 16, 2017
Source: Portland State University
A Portland State University
researcher discovered that a rabbit known for centuries to exist in South
America is different enough from its cousins to be its own unique species.
"At a time when species are
going extinct every day, it's encouraging to know we can add one back on the
list of survivors," said PSU biology professor Luis Ruedas.
His findings will be published
May 17 in the Journal of Mammalogy.
Ruedas made his discovery after
studying rabbit specimens at the Naturalis museum in Leiden, in The
Netherlands. The specimens, collected in 1983 from the small country of
Suriname on South America's northeast coast, were labeled as South American
cottontails.
Ruedas studied the anatomy of the
museum specimens and determined they were larger and shaped differently than
other rabbits throughout South America -- so much so that they deserved to be
classified as a distinct species.
The creature will be only the
third new rabbit species named in South America since the start of the modern
classification system 260 years ago.
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