Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1342127
Element CodeAMAEB01130
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNEndangered
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassMammalia
OrderLagomorpha
FamilyLeporidae
GenusSylvilagus
SynonymsSylvilagus cognatusNelson, 1907Sylvilagus robustus(V. Bailey, 1905)
Other Common NamesRobust Cottontail (EN)
Concept ReferenceDiersing, V. E. and D. E. Wilson. 2021. Systematics of the mountain-inhabiting cottontails (Sylvilagus) from southwestern United States and northern Mexico (Mammalia: Lagomorpha: Leporidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 134(1):42–79.
Taxonomic CommentsSylvilagus holzeri was split from S. floridanus by Diersing and Wilson (2021). The population previously referred to as S. cognatus is indistinguishable from S. holzneri and is now recognized as a synonym, and cottontails previously referred to as S. robustus are referable to S. holzneri robustus (Diersing and Wilson 2021). According to Diersing and Wilson (2021), the taxonomy of S. holzneri is "provisional until future studies are completed that document the affinities of S. holzneri to other mountain-inhabiting taxa from central and southern Mexico, and all mountain-inhabiting taxa from Mexico are compared to the adjacent lowland populations of S. floridanus from eastern Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and Veracruz)".
Three subspecies are recognized: S. h. hesperius, S. h. holzneri, and S. h. robustus.
Conservation Status
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent CommentsThis species occurs in the forested and brushy mountains and plateaus of Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas, USA, southward into Mexico along the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Durango, Mexico and Sierra Madre Oriental in the northern half of Coahuila, Mexico (Diersing and Wilson 2021).