Lagorchestes is a genus of small, rabbit-like mammals commonly known as hare-wallabies. It includes four species native to Australia and New Guinea, two of which are extinct. Hare-wallabies belong to the macropod family (Macropodidae) which includes kangaroos, wallabies, and other marsupials.

Lagorchestes
Eastern hare-wallaby
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Subfamily: Macropodinae
Genus: Lagorchestes
Gould, 1841[1]
Type species
Macropus leporides
Gould, 1841
Species

Species

edit

It has four species, two of which are extinct:

Image Scientific name Distribution
  Spectacled hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes conspicillatus  
  Rufous hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus  

Extinct

edit
Image Scientific name Distribution
Lake Mackay hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes asomatus  
  Eastern hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes leporides  

The oldest known fossil of Lagorchestes is an 11,000-year-old one of the extant spectacled hare-wallaby.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ The Paleobiology Database
edit