Lepus californicus

Lepus altamirae (Tamaulipas Jackrabbit) has been split from L. californicus by Vargas et al. (2019). Phylogenetic analyses by Álvarez-Castañeda and Lorenzo (2017) do not support the separation of L. insularis at the specific level and it should be considered a synonym or subspecies of L. californicus.

This species is common, widely distributed and can occupy a range of habitats. Threats to persistence of local populations exist but appear to be limited in scope and unlikely to impact the species' persistence.

This species occurs in Western North America, from the Pacific Coast east to Missouri and Arkansas, and from Washington, Idaho, southwestern Montana, eastern Wyoming, and South Dakota, USA, south to Baja California, northern Sonora, southern Queretaro, and Hidalgo, Mexico (Jones et al. 1983; Hoffmann, in Wilson and Reeder 1993; Best 1996). Releases have been made in Florida, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia, USA (see Best 1996).

Because the species is common across much of its range, occurrences are not tracked for this species by many Heritage Programs. However, given its common nature and widespread distribution, the number of occurrences is likely to exceed 300 across its range.

This species suffers localized threats from habitat loss due to urbanization and persecution to prevent its damage to agricultural crops. Rabbit Homorganic Disease has recently spread to the species' range and may be starting to impact subpopulations. Mortality has been observed, but additional research is needed to understand the impacts of this threat at the population scale (Lankton et al. 2021).