Prolagus sardus

The Sardinian pika is an extinct species of lagomorph that was endemic to the Corsica-Sardinia archipelago in the Western Mediterranean. It was the last surviving member of Prolagus, a genus of lagomorph with a fossil record spanning 20 million years once widespread throughout Europe during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Its closest living relatives are modern pikas, from which it is estimated to have diverged around 30 million years ago.

Prolagus sardus

Unknown author Unknown author · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ProlagusPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ochotonidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ochotonidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 23 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 23 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 18 of 23 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 23 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences774 ka – 11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

23 occurrences of Prolagus sardus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

23 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Prolagus sardus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Prolagus sardus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

168 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Prolagus sardus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 23 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Prolagus sardus

Credit
Unknown author Unknown author
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
ffontani
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProlagus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagner 1829