Nesolagus
Nesolagus is a genus of rabbits containing three species of striped rabbit: the Annamite striped rabbit, the Sumatran striped rabbit, and the extinct species N. sinensis. Overall there is very little known about the genus as a whole, most information coming from the Sumatran rabbit.
Taxonomy
Until 1996, the only known species belonging to the genus Nesolagus was the Sumatran striped rabbit, a species restricted to the Sumatran mountain range of Bukit Barisan which was described in 1880 by German naturalist Hermann Schlegel. The name Nesolagus was erected by Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major in 1899, though he did not clarify if it should describe a genus on its own or a subgenus of Caprolagus; it was solidified as a genus containing the Sumatran striped rabbit in 1904 by Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. in his work Classification of the Hares and their Allies.
The genus Nesolagus includes three species, one extinct:
Behavior
Due to the small number of individuals, and because of the rare sightings of this genus, there is not much information available on its behavior. One thing that we do know however, is that the Sumatran rabbit is nocturnal and hides out in burrows which it does not make itself and does not really like to go out looking for food for itself in places that are too far from its home.
Description
Descriptions of the species are partly based on images made by camera traps; for the Sumatran striped rabbit the cameras were set in the montane forests of Sumatra, while the Annamite Striped rabbit was seen in the Annamite mountain range of Laos and Vietnam. Both species of striped rabbit have seven brown or black stripes and a red rump and white underside. They are the only species of rabbits to have stripes. They are relatively small with a length of about, with a tail of about and ears about long. Thus the ears of Nesolagus are only about half as long as in most rabbits, e.g. in the genus Lepus. Their fur is soft and dense, overlaid by longer, harsher hairs.
Distribution
Striped rabbits are found in only four locations. The Sumatran striped rabbit has been found in the Barisan Mountains in western Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Annamite striped rabbit has been found in the Annamite mountains on the border between Vietnam and Laos. The fossils of the extinct Nesolagus sinensis were found in Chongzou Ecological Park in the Guangnxi Zhuang region of southwest China.