Lepus saxatilis F. Cuvier, 1823

Robert S. Hoffmann, 1993, Order Lagomorpha, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 807-827 : 820

Lepus saxatilis F. Cuvier, 1823 . Diet. Sci. Nat., 26:309.

TYPE LOCALITY: "il habite les contrées qui se trouvent à trois journées au nord du cap de Bonne-Espérance," [Cape of Good Hope, South Africa].

DISTRIBUTION: Cape Province (and Zululand north to C Natal?) ( South Africa) and S Namibia.

STATUS: Appears common ( Flux and Angermann, 1990), but this is uncertain (Angermann, in litt., 1992).

SYNONYMS: albaniensis Roberts, 1932; aurantii Thomas and Hinton, 1923; bechuanae Roberts, 1932; chiversi Roberts, 1929; chobiensis Roberts, 1932; damarensis Roberts, 1926; fumigatus Wagner, 1844; gungunyanae Roberts, 1914; khanensis Roberts, 1946; longicaudatus Gray, 1837; megalotis Thomas and Schwann, 1905; ngamiensis Roberts, 1932; nigrescens Roberts, 1932; orangensis Kolbe, 1948; rufinucha A. Smith, 1829; subrufus Roberts, 1913; timidus A. Smith, 1826 .

COMMENTS: Placed by Gureev (1964:203) in subgenus Proeulagus . Formerly included crawshayi and whytei, see Ansell (1978:67), Swanepoel et al. (1980:159), and Robinson and Dippenaar (1983 b, 1987); but see also Petter (1961, 1972b). Angermann (1983) considered whytei a distinct species that includes crawshayi ; Flux and Angermann (1990) placed both as subspecies of victoriae . Angermann (in litt., 1992) would restrict saxatilis to the following taxa: albaniensis, aurantii, chiversi, fumigatus, longicaudatus, megalotis, rufinucha, and timidus ; transfering the remainder to victoriae .