Sylvilagus obscurus

Sylvilagus obscurus is regarded by some as a junior synonym of S. transitionalis.

Populations in the small range in the Appalachian Mountains southwest of the Hudson River are experiencing a loss of habitat due to human use and the range expansion of the eastern cottontail; populations are small and isolated; population trend and degree of threat posed by the eastern cottontail are not well known in most areas.

Appalachian Mountain chain, its marginal plateau, and mountain balds, southwest of the Hudson River, in Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, western Virginia, southeastern Kentucky, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western South Carolina, northern Georgia, and northern Alabama (Chapman et al. 1992). Occurs in discrete populations.

There are at least several dozen extant occurrences in areas west and south of the Hudson River.

West and south of the Hudson River, the main threats are alteration of habitat by human activities and the related problem of competition and interbreeding with the eastern cottontail. The eastern cottontail competes with, and rapidly replaces, the Appalachian cottontail on cleared and cultivated ground; in some areas, the eastern cottontail is invading the forest habitats of the Appalachian cottontail. Introductions of exotic subspecies of Sylvilagus floridanus may have broadened the ecological tolerances of Sylvilagus floridanus and improved its ability to outcompete S. obscurus. Handley and Gordon (in Linzey 1979) doubted that this is a significant factor in Virginia where there has been little, if any, stocking of cottontails. MtDNA data indicate that hybridization is not occurring between the Appalachian cottontail and the eastern cottontail.

The fairly limited geographic distribution of the southern populations mainly is broken into small, isolated populations (Chapman and Stauffer 1979). Such populations are vulnerable to extirpation by chance events (Kirtland 1986). This is a game species in some southern states, but hunting pressure in some areas is low due to the remoteness of most occurrences (D. Feller, pers., comm., 1997). However, in West Virginia, between 1985 and 1990, 76 of 204 cottontail skulls provided by hunters and biologists were S. obscurus (unpublished USFWS performance report).