A new hare from British East Africa

Vol. 31, pp. 35-36

May

16, 1918

PROCEEDINGS

OFTin;

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

A NEW HARE FROM BRITISH EAST AFRICA.

BY

N.

HOLLISTER.

[.PublishedbypermissionoftheSecretaryoftheSmithsonianInstitution.]

A _study

ofthe

African

hares in the collection of the

United

States

National Museum has shown

the necessity^forrecognizing the following

new

_subspecies^:

Lepus

capensis abbotti, subsp. nov.

Type

^from plains^{east of}

Mount

Kilimanjaro, British East _Africa;

?

adult, skin

and

skull. U. S. National

Museum,

No. HttI- ^Collected September20, 1888,

by

^Dr.

W.

L. Abbott.

Characters.

— One

of the chain of subspecies ^of Lepuscapensis,

most

resemblingtypical capensis

and

_Lepuscapensis crawshayi. ^Differs from L. c.capensis ⁱⁿgenerally richer coloration

and

inthedeeper ochraceous sides, limbs,

and

_nape; ears browner, ^less gray.

From

^itsnearest geo- graphical neighbor, L. ^c. crawshayi, which,

when

in fresh pelage,^isalso rather a _richlycolored form, ^{it is} distinguished by^the

more

ochraceous tone of the buffy hair rings above;

more

ochraceous, ^less blackish, shoulders

and

sides ofneck; deeper ochraceous nape-patch, throat-patch, sides,

and

limbs;

and

brownerears.

The

earsaverageslightlyshorterthan in crawshayi. Skull as incrawshayi but with rostrum

and

nasal bones longer.

A young example

ⁱⁿ juvenile coat ^is decidedly darker

(more

brownish,^lessgray)thanthe

young

^ofcrawshayiⁱⁿcorresponding pelage, with

much

deeper colorednape and ^throat.

Measurementsoftypespecimen.

— _Ear

_from notch, dry, 82 millimeters.

Skull: Occipitonasal length, 87.5; condylobasallength, 76.9; zygomatic breadth, 40.5; interorbital constriction, 15.9; postorbital constriction, 10.3. breadthofbraincase, 28.7; diagonal lengthof nasals, 38.8; great- estbreadth_{of nasals, 19.7;} maxillary tooth row, 15.3; mandibulartooth row, ^16.1.

Remarks.

— _The

resemblanceofthe harefromtheKilimanjaro plains^to Lepus capensis capensis ^of South Africa has been noted

by

various

10—Proc.Biol. Soc.Wash.,Vol.31,1918. (35)

36

Proceedings of ^the Biological Society of

Washington.

authors.* Latert theanimal

was

referred toLepus crawshayi^deWinton, originallydescribedfromKitwyi, central ^BritishEastAfrica. Specimens of EastAfrican hares areso rarely ingood^fresh pelage thatwithout_large series of skins satisfactorycomparisons ^{are difficult to}

make. Out

of twenty-five skins^of Lepuscapensis crawshayi ^{in the National}

Museum

collection only

two

or three specimens ^{are in fresh} pelage ^like the type

and

oneadult topotype^ofL.c.abbotti,butcomparison^ofthesespecimens leaves

no

doubtas tothesubspecific distinction of the Kilimanjaro^hare.

The young example

^{referred toabbotti} comes from Maji-ya-chumvi, ^be- tween theTaita Hills

and

thecoast. Itisinterestingthat theKiliman- jarohareresembles incolorthe

Cape

^formso

much more

thanitdoes the intermediate subspecies.

*True,Proc. U.S.Nat. Mus.,vol.15,p. 468,1892; Thomas, Ann. and Mag.^Nat.Hist,

ser.6,vol.12,p. 269, 1893.

+ Thomas, Ann. and Mag.^Nat.Hist., ser.8,vol.6,p. 316, 1910.