Robust cottontail

Description

The robust cottontail or Holzner's cottontail (Sylvilagus holzneri) is a species of cottontail rabbit native to high-altitude regions of the southwestern United States and western Mexico. This species and the subspecies comprising it were long considered to be subspecies of the eastern cottontail (S. floridanus), but were promoted to species level due to morphological analysis. Genetic data have confirmed the uniqueness of S. holzneri. S. holzneri and S. floridanus are distinguished primarily by size, dental, and cranial differences. S. holzneri typically averages a total length of 42 cm, and weighs between 1.3 and 1.8 kg. It is restricted to dry, brushy, mountains at elevations above 1500 meters.Despite the rarity of S. h. robustus, currently no governmental agency provides protection or listing for this subspecies.