Lepus nigricollis F. Cuvier, 1823 . Diet. Sci. Nat., 26:307.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Malabar" [Madras, India].

DISTRIBUTION: Pakistan; India; Bangladesh, except Sunderbands; Sri Lanka; introduced into Java (?) and Mauritius, Gunnera Quoin, Anskya, Réunion and Cousin Isis in the Indian Ocean. Considered native to Java by McNeely (1981:931).

STATUS: Mainland (and Sri Lankan?) populations secure (Flux and Angermann, 1990). If nigricollis is native to Java (rather than an introduced population), its numbers are now very low there.

SYNONYMS: aryabertensis Hodgson, 1844; cutchensis Kloss, 1918; dayanus Blanford, 1874; joongshaiensis Murray, 1884; macrotus Hodgson, 1840; mahadeva Wroughton and Ryley, 1913; rajput Wroughton, 1917; ruficaudatus Geoffroy, 1826; sadiya Kloss, 1918; simcoxi Wroughton, 1912; singhala Wroughton, 1915; tytleri Tytler, 1854 .

COMMENTS: Placed in Caprolagus (Indolagus) by Gureev (1964:139). Includes ruficaudatus; see Prater (1980) and Angermann (1983), but see Gureev (1964: 142); ruficaudatus is closer to capensis according to Petter (1961), and nigricollis may include whytei, crawshayi, pequensis and siamensis; but also see comments under pequensis and saxatilis . Also includes dayanus, given specific status by Gureev (1964:139).