Lepus (Eulagos) mandshuricus Radde 1861

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Lagomorpha, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 185-211 : 200

Lepus (Eulagos) mandshuricus Radde 1861

Lepus (Eulagos) mandshuricus Radde 1861 , Melanges Biol. Acad. St. Petersbourg, Vol. 3: 684.

Type Locality: "Im Chy (Gebirge)" Bureya Mtns [Khabarovskii Krai, Russia].

Vernacular Names: Manchurian Hare.

Synonyms: Lepus (Eulagos) melainus Li and Luo 1979 ; Lepus (Eulagos) melanonotus Ognev 1922 .

Distribution: Ussuri region ( Russia); NE China; extreme NE Korea.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Eulagos ( Averianov, 1998) . Distinct from brachyurus ; see Angermann (1966, 1983); placed in Caprolagus (Allolagus) brachyurus by Gureev (1964:150); followed by Gromov and Baranova (1981:63). Melanic individuals known since at least the time of Sowerby (1923) have been given the specific designation melainus ( Li and Luo, 1979) . The range of this taxon is entirely within that of mandshuricus , and we provisionally retain them in that species, although Flux and Angermann (1990) recognized melainus . L. mandshuricus and L. coreanus are parapatric in distribution in NE Korea /SE Heilungjiang, but are described as occupying different habitats; the former, mixed forest in hilly country, the latter, both forest and cultivated land, primarily in the plains ( Flux and Angermann, 1990). Moreover, mandshuricus is sympatric with another forest species, timidus , and with the plains species, tolai ; as forest is cleared, tolai tends to replace mandshuricus ( Flux and Angermann, 1990) . L. mandshuricus , L. timidus and L. tolai all occur in the area occupied by the taxon melainus ; four species of sympatric hares, three of them forest-dwellers, is unprecedented in hare ecology, and supports the view that melainus is not a distinct species.