The Annamite mountains of Laos and Vietnam have yielded several important mammalian discoveries1. We have found a striped rabbit of the previously monospecific genus Nesolagus, extending its known range more than 1,500 km north from the island of Sumatra into mainland Southeast Asia. The Sumatran and mainland Annamite populations are morphologically similar, but genetic data indicate that they have been isolated for millions of years.
Figure 1: Map of Southeast Asia showing the Sunda islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java.
Figure 2: Automatic camera-trap photographs of the striped rabbits.
a, Nesolagus netscheri in Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra (photograph from FFI). b, The striped rabbit from the Annamite mountains, photographed in the Pu Mat Nature Reserve, Vietnam (photograph from SFNC EC).
Surridge A. K., Timmins R. J., Hewitt G. M. and Bell D. J. 1999. Striped rabbit in Southeast Asia. Nature. 400: 726. doi:10.1038/23393