NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
White-tailed Jack Rabbit
Lepus townsendii Bachman, 1839
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii), also known as the prairie hare and the white jack, is a species of hare found in western North America. Like all hares and rabbits, it is a member of the family Leporidae of order Lagomorpha. It is a solitary individual except where several males court a female in the breeding season. Litters of four to five young are born in a form, a shallow depression in the ground, hidden among vegetation. This jackrabbit has two described subspecies: L. townsendii townsendii occurring west of the Rocky Mountains and L. townsendii campanius occurring east of the Rocky Mountains.
Wikipedia contributors, White-tailed jackrabbit; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:48:23.973143+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lepus townsendii Bachman, 1839
- Name authority
- Bachman, 1839
- Common name
- White-tailed Jack Rabbit
- 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 townsendii Bachman, 1839
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain HareLepus timidus Linnaeus, 1758 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| 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 |
| Arctic HareLepus arcticus Ross, 1819 | LeporidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180118 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:6Q223. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.