Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus J. A. Allen 1890

Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus J. A. Allen 1890, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 3: 160.

Type Locality: "Sebastian River, Brevard Co.," [Florida, USA].

Vernacular Names: Eastern Cottontail.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. floridanus J. A. Allen 1890

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. alacer Bangs 1896

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. chapmani J. Allen 1899

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. holzneri Mearns 1896

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. mallurus Thomas 1898

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. aztecus J. Allen 1890

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. connectens Nelson 1904

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. hondurensis Goldman 1932

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. macrocorpus Diersing and Wilson 1980

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. orizabae Merriam 1893

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. yucatanicus Miller 1899

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. avius Osgood 1910

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. cumanicus Thomas 1897

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. margaritae Miller 1898

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. nigronuchalis Hartert 1894

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. orinoci Thomas 1900

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. purgatus Thomas 1920

Subspecies Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus subsp. superciliaris J. Allen 1899

Distribution: N, C, and W Venezuela (including adjacent islands) and adjacent Colombia through Central America (disjunct in part); to NW Mexico, Arizona, north and east to North Dakota, Minnesota, N Michigan, New York and Massachusetts, Atlantic Coast south and Florida Gulf Coast (USA) west to Mexico; also S Saskatchewan, S Ontario and SC Quebec (C Canada).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Sylvilagus (Gureev, 1964:164) . Widely introduced in North America (Hall, 1981:301) and Europe (Flux et al., 1990). Formerly included robustus (Bailey, 1905) and cognatus Nelson, 1907. Ruedas (1998) stated "...at least three of the subspecies [of floridanus] ( cognatus, holzneri, and robustus) traditionally ascribed to S. floridanus are of species rank." However, he did not formally raise the first two to full species, as he did for robustus . Reviewed by Chapman et al. (1980, Mammalian Species, 136). See also cognatus and robustus; holzneri is provisionally retained as a subspecies of floridanus, since its relationship to Mexican populations of floridanus have not been reported yet. Allozymes described by Cervantes et al. (1999 a).