Tres Marias Cottontail

Open encyclopedia reference

The Tres Marias cottontail or Tres Marias rabbit (Sylvilagus graysoni) is a medium-sized species of rabbit that is endemic to the Islas Marías in Mexico. Relatively unafraid of humans, the rabbit is the only member of the family Leporidae found on the islands. It prefers the island's dry, tropical forests, and regions with plenty of bushes for cover, which it will rest under for most of the day. It has few predators, with the known native species that feed on it being birds of prey and the Tres Marias raccoon, though it has been threatened by habitat loss due to human developments, as well as browsing by introduced white-tailed deer and goats. The Tres Marias cottontail is considered to be an endangered species by the Mexican government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and population declines have been reported across most of the species' range, with the exception of the island of San Juanito.

Wikipedia contributors, Tres Marias cottontail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:49:40.614234+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Sylvilagus graysoni (J. A. Allen, 1877)

Name authority

(J. A. Allen, 1877)

Common name

Tres Marias Cottontail

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Lagomorpha

Family

Leporidae

Genus

Sylvilagus

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. genusSylvilagus Gray, 1867
14. speciesSylvilagus graysoni (J. A. Allen, 1877)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 43 records assigned to Leporidae.

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=625368 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:53N92. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.