Lepus othus Merriam, 1900

Robert S. Hoffmann, 1993, Order Lagomorpha, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 807-827 : 819

Lepus othus Merriam, 1900 . Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., 2:28.

TYPE LOCALITY: "St. Michaels, [Norton Sound], Alaska." [ USA].

DISTRIBUTION: W and SW Alaska ( USA); formerly perhaps northwestward to Pt. Barrow; as here interpreted, also E Chukotsk ( Russia).

STATUS: Rare, perhaps decreasing in range and numbers ( Flux and Angermann, 1990).

SYNONYMS: poadromus Merriam, 1900; tschuktschorum Nordquist, 1883.

COMMENTS: Formerly included in arcticus or timidus (see comments therein). Regarded as distinct by Hall (1981) and by Flux and Angermann (1990), who, however, followed A. J. Baker et al. (1983) in allying populations from E Chukotsk ( Russia) with Alaskan populations; but see also Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987). Angermann (in litt., 1992) considered othus as "probably conspecific" with timidus .