Lepus terraerubrae Kretzoi, 1956

Gasparik, Mihály & Pazonyi, Piroska, 2018, The macromammal remains and revised faunal list of the Somssich Hill 2 locality (late Early Pleistocene, Hungary) and the Epivillafranchian faunal change, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 35, pp. 153-178 : 156

Lepus terraerubrae Kretzoi, 1956

Material – Isolated teeth, mandibular fragments, postcranials and postcranial fragments. The remains were found in all layers of the sequence of the locality but they are especially abundant in layers 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, the most abundant in layer 5. From here we counted the postcranials and the result was more than 20,000 remains (mainly small fragments). We estimated the amount of the Lepus remains at about 80 percent of that. On the basis of the whole calcanei and distal fragments of ulnae they belonged to more than 20 individuals. The isolated teeth from this layer gave similar result (at least 19 individuals).

Remarks – Although the species was described by KRETZOI (1956) only in a footnote the species name is valid and the whole leporid material from Somssich Hill 2 represents this species (Chiara Angelone, pers. comm.).