NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Mountain Hare
Lepus timidus Linnaeus, 1758
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Lepus timidus, Елизовский р-н, Камчатский край, Россия, 2020-08-07 (iNaturalist).
Евгений Егорейченков · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The mountain hare or arctic hare (Lepus timidus), also known as blue hare, tundra hare, variable hare, white hare, snow hare, alpine hare, and Irish hare, is a species of hare that is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats in the Palearctic realm. It is a large hare, slightly smaller than the European hare and identifiable by its tail, which is completely white throughout the year. Mountain hares have a brown coat in summer and white to grey in winter. Their diet is highly adaptive to their environment, but is generally made up of plant matter such as grass, twigs, and bark.
Wikipedia contributors, Mountain hare; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:07:19.471692+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lepus timidus Linnaeus, 1758
- Name authority
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Common name
- Mountain Hare
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Lagomorpha
- Family
- Leporidae
- Genus
- Lepus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderLagomorpha Brandt, 1855
- familyLeporidae Fischer, 1817
- genusLepus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesLepus timidus Linnaeus, 1758
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lepus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska Arctic HareLepus othus Merriam, 1900 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Snowshoe HareLepus americanus Erxleben, 1777 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ethiopian HareLepus fagani Thomas, 1903 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Arabian HareLepus capensis Linnaeus, 1758 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yunnan HareLepus comus Allen, 1927 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Corsican HareLepus corsicanus de Winton, 1898 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-tailed Jack RabbitLepus californicus Gray, 1837 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black JackrabbitLepus insularis W. Bryant, 1891 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hainan HareLepus hainanus Swinhoe, 1870 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tehuantepec JackrabbitLepus flavigularis Wagner, 1844 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-tailed Jack RabbitLepus townsendii Bachman, 1839 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Arctic HareLepus arcticus Ross, 1819 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Lepus othus tschuktschorum Nordquist, 1883 Nordquist, 1883 | synonym |
| Lepus timidus tschuktschorum Nordquist, 1883 Nordquist, 1883 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Southern Asia
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180113 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:6PPQ3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.