Smith's Red Rock Hare

Open encyclopedia reference

Smith's red rockhare, Smith's red rock hare or Smith's red rock rabbit (Pronolagus rupestris) is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae (rabbits and hares), and is the smallest member of the genus Pronolagus. The upperparts and gular collar are reddish brown in colour. It has warm, brown, grizzled, thicker hairs at the back of the body, and white to tawny, thinner underfur. It is native to Africa, found in parts of Kenya (Rift Valley), Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa (Northern Cape, Free State, and North West), Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is a folivore, and usually forages on grasses (such as sprouting grass), shrubs and herbs. It breeds from September to February, and the female litters one or two offspring. The young leave the nest at three years of age. In 1996, it was rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species.

Wikipedia contributors, Smith's red rock hare; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:29:52.985364+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Pronolagus rupestris (A. Smith, 1834)

Name authority

(A. Smith, 1834)

Common name

Smith's Red Rock Hare

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Lagomorpha

Family

Leporidae

Genus

Pronolagus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderLagomorpha Brandt, 1855
12. familyLeporidae Fischer, 1817
13. genusPronolagus Lyon, 1904
14. speciesPronolagus rupestris (A. Smith, 1834)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Pronolagus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 43 records assigned to Leporidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=625363 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4MT9Z. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.