Comments on the Taxonomy and Geographic Distribution of Some North American Rabbits

The authors examine museum specimens to clarify subspecies boundaries and geographic ranges among several North American cottontail and rabbit taxa. They reassess historical records, reconcile conflicting locality identifications, and compare external and cranial characters, including tympanic bullae, supraorbital processes, hind-foot and ear measurements, palate spines, and pelage moult, to assign specimens to taxonomic groups and delimit distributions across the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain foothills, and southwestern localities. The study concludes that certain taxa do not intergrade where previously thought and that subtle cranial features provide the most reliable diagnostic characters for distinguishing closely related forms.