Prolagus sardus
| Sardinian pika Temporal range: 5.33–0.002 Ma |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Lagomorpha |
| Family: | Prolagidae |
| Genus: | Prolagus |
| Species: | P. sardus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Prolagus sardus (Wagner, 1832) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Prolagus corsicanus |
|
Prolagus corsicanus
The Sardinian pika (Prolagus sardus) was a pika native to the islands of Sardinia, Corsica and neighbouring Mediterranean islands until its extinction in the Roman times or perhaps as late as the late 1700s or early 1800s.
The full skeletal structure of the Sardinian pika was reconstructed in 1967, thanks to the numerous finds of bones in the Corbeddu cave, which is near Oliena. Some years later, from these remains, the same researchers led by paleontologist Mary R. Dawson from the US were able to create a plaster reconstruction with good accuracy. The Sardinian pika was probably much stockier and robust than the species of living lagomorphs, and it probably resembled a sort of cross between a large wild rabbit and a pika.
Prolagus sardus weighed about 504-525 g. This is more than its ancestor Prolagus figaro, which is the only other member of Prolagus that was found in Sardinia and weighed about 398-436 g.
Abundant fossil and subfossil remains of P. sardus from several localities in Corsica and Sardinia hint at the once broad geographical range of this Prolagus species : it lived from sea level up to at least 800 m (2,624 ft.) in a variety of habitats (grasslands, shrublands) whereby it could dig burrows. Its diet was strictly vegetarian. Fossilized mass accumulations of broken bones (bone beds) suggest that it was a major source of food for many predators in the Pleistocene, like birds of prey or the Sardinian dhole which was specialized in the hunt for this lagomorph.
The presence of Prolagus also facilitated the establishment of the first human communities of the islands. Jean-Denis Vigne found clear evidence that the Sardinian pika was hunted and eaten by people. He found that many of the Sardinian pikas' limb bones were broken and burnt at one end, suggesting that this animal had been roasted and eaten by the Neolithic colonists of Corsica.
Ancestors of the Sardinian pika such as Prolagus figaro spread from mainland Italy and evolved in the Corsican-Sardinian microcontinent during the Pliocene or . The oldest unambiguous remains of Prolagus sardus date back from the , a time when both islands were periodically connected due to sea level changes. Reassessment of palaeontological data has shown that the distinction made by early authors between two contemporaneous taxa (P. sardus and P. corsicanus) is probably unfounded, as the Sardinian pika exhibits only subtle anagenetic evolution of its anatomy and body size through time.
...
Wikipedia