Lepus europaeus iranensis, Goodwin, 1939

Goodwin, George G., 1939, Five Newrodents From The Eastern Elburz Moitntains And A New Race Of Hare From Teheran, American Museum Novitates 1050, pp. 1-6 : 4

Lepus europaeus iranensis , new subspecies

Iran Plateau Hare

TYPE.-No. 88904 , Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.; adult d; Teheran, Iran; alt. about 3500 feet; collector, G. G. Goodwin, Dec. 6, 1938. The type is a skin and skull in good condition. Besides the type there is an adult topotype; both specimens were collected by local hunter in the vicinity of Teheran .

GENERAL CHARACTERS.- A relatively small pinkish buff hare with curly pelage; large ears and conspicuous black area on upperside of tail, characteristic of the europaeus group; hind feet, nearly white; black on front of ear restricted to a narrow margin on tip. Skull, short and broad with wide braincase and large bullae.

DESCRIPTION.-Color above, light ochraceous salmon; hairs white from base for about half their length, followed by broad bands of black and light ochraceous salmon, finely tipped with black; rump grayish, the hairs slaty gray at base; top of the head, like back; an indistinct buffywhite ring around the eye and a buffywhite patch behind the eye; front of ears, pinkish buff, margined with a narrow line of buffy white, margin around tip black, the black extending down back of ear about an inch, rest of back of ear white; sides of body, light ochraceous salmon; the hairs without black band, extreme base slaty gray; fore feet, ochraceous buff; hind feet, mostly buffy white. Underside of neck and area in inguinal region, light ochraceous salmon; rest of under parts, including innerside of limbs, white.

SKULL.-Short and broad, with wide braincase; broad short nasals; heavy zygoma; large inflated bullae; postorbital processes, broad and flaring; teeth, relatively broad.

MEASUREMENTS-.Type (skin measured in the flesh), topotype in parentheses. Total length) 600 (600); tail, 59 (58); hind foot including claws, 150 (145); ear, from notch in dried skin, 112 (108). Skull: greatest length, 96.3 (97); occipitonasal length, 93.5 (93.0); condylobasal length, 85.5 (85.5); zygomatic breadth, 46.2 (48); postorbital constriction, 13.3 (15.3); greatest breadth of nasals, 21.7 (22.7); length of nasal, 39.5 (40.4); breadth of braincase, 31.6 (35.2); diastema, 28.2 (28.2); depth bullae, 13.7 (12.1); width of palate between m3-m3, 13.1 (12); alveoli of maxillary toothrow, 17 (17).

REMARKS. - L. e. iranensis may be readily distinguished from European races of this group byits smallersize, pinkish coloration, more buffy ears and lighter colored feet; in cranial characters by its shorter and broaderskull,relatively broader nasals, wider braincase and more inflated bullae. It is also smaller than L. e. cyrensis from Transcaucasia, with narrower nasals, much shorter toothrow (crowns 15 mm. as compared with 18) and shorter tail. It needs no comparison with L. lehmanni, from east of the Caspian, which is a small species intermediate between the timidus and toli groups. L. e. turcomanus from the Karakum Desert is a small dark-colored race, similar to lehmanni. L. e. caspius from Astrakan is a more northern race and is separated geographically from the Iran hare. The description and colored plate of L. syriacus indicate a decided yellowish pelage, verydifferentfromthatofiranensis; it is also smaller with less black on the tip of the ears than in the latter.