Sardinian pika[1] Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene - Holocene
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | †Prolagidae |
Genus: | †Prolagus |
Species: | †P. sardus
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Binomial name | |
†Prolagus sardus (Wagner, 1829)
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Synonyms | |
Prolagus corsicanus |
The Sardinian pika (Prolagus sardus) is an extinct species of lagomorph that was endemic to the islands of Sardinia, Corsica and neighbouring Mediterranean islands until its extinction likely in Roman times. 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 (which all belong to the genus Ochotona), from which it is estimated to have diverged around 30 million years ago.