leporine
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlɛpəɹaɪn/
ipa: /ˈlɛpəˌɹaɪn/
ipa: /ˈlɛpəɹən/
Forms: form: leporines
Etymology: The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin leporīnus + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Leporīnus is derived from leporis (the genitive singular form of lepus (“hare”)) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: The most frequent intestinal parasite of rodents is probably Oxyuris ambigua, but Strong. retortæformis is tolerably abundant in the hare, and Trichocephalus unguiculatus is liable to occur in all leporines. […] Acari infest rats and mice, and especially leporines.
ref: 1879, T[homas] Spencer Cobbold, “Parasites of Animals”, in Parasites; a Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals, including Some Account of the Ectozoa, London: J[ohn] & A[ugustus] Churchill, […], →OCLC, book II, page 319:
text: It will be seen that the variability in any one formula (excepting the anomaly of m. ⁴⁄₄) is confined to the premolars; that these only vary in one instance in the Hystricines; and that the incisors only vary from ²⁄₂ to ⁴⁄₂ in the Leporines.
ref: 1888, Elliott Coues, “Order II.—Rodentia.”, in John Sterling Kingsley, editor, The Riverside Natural History, volume V (Mammals), London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., […], →OCLC, page 70:
text: +Trischizolagus has been proposed as a probable Oryctolagus ancestor, as well as for Lepus and other leporines, although no transitional populations have yet been found.
ref: 2008, Nieves Lopez-Martinez, “The Lagomorph Fossil Record and the Origin of the European Rabbit”, in Paulo C[élio] Alves, Nuno Ferrand, Klaus Hackländer, editors, Lagomorph Biology: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation, Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, page 41:
text: The western Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera) have an insular history since the Miocene, and are famed for the unique caprine Myotragus (a goat relative) and endemic leporines (rabbits). […] [R]aptors coevolved with the insular radiations of rodents, leporines, and larger mammals.
ref: 2009, Trevor H[enry] Worthy, “Fossil Birds”, in Rosemary G. Gillespie, David A. Clague, editors, Encyclopedia of Islands (Encyclopedias of the Natural World; 2), Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.; London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 321, column 1:
text: They [the Mexican volcano rabbit and the South African red rock hare] may be leftovers of a primitive stock because their distribution is peripheral to that of the advanced leporines.
ref: 2021, Alexandra van der Geer, George Lyras, John de Vos, “Japan: the Southern and Central Ryukyu Islands”, in Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands, 2nd edition, Hoboken, N.J.; Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, →ISBN, page 370:
topics: biology
mammalogy
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: Synonym of leporid (“any mammal of the family Leporidae: the hares and rabbits”).
synonyms: word: leporid
extra: any mammal of the family Leporidae: the hares and rabbits
examples: text: I come now to the more interesting part of my subject, viz. that of the Leporines—hybrids, so called, between the hare and the rabbit. It has been stated that M. Rouy, of Angoulême, has bred for the market a thousand of these Leporines yearly—that they are fertile both with the hare and the rabbit, and with each other.
ref: 1861 February 26, Edwards Crisp, “On Some Points Relating to the Habits and Anatomy of the Oceanic and of the Freshwater Ducks, and also of the Hare (Lepus timidus) and of the Rabbit (L. cuniculus), in Relation to the Question of Hybridism”, in Prideaux John Selby, Charles C[ardale] Babington, John Edward Gray, William Francis, editors, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including Zoology, Botany, and Geology, volume VIII (Third Series), number 43, London: Taylor and Francis […], published July 1861, →OCLC, page 75:
text: In France there is a hybrid bred between the rabbit and the hare, known as the leporine, that is said to be fertile; I do not know much about it. I tried to get some definite information on the matter and failed. I simply know that I have seen numers of statements going the rounds of the press that the leporine is a valuable poultry animal raised for food, and is a cross between the hare and the rabbit, and that it is fertile. If so, it is the only case I know of where the continued fertility is kept up.
ref: 1887, W[illia]m H[enry] Brewer, “Syllabus of Lectures on the Principles of Stock Breeding [Fourth Lecture. Crossing—Breeding to Points.]”, in Report of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota: Supplement I to the Fourth Biennial Report of the Board of Regents. 1886, St. Paul, Minn.: The Pioneer Press Company, →OCLC, page 213:
text: Mr. Thomas Christy enquired what position the so-called Belgian Hare or Leporine occupied in relation to the question of hybridity; and was answered that the popular notion of that animal being a hybrid between Hare and Rabbit was fallacious, since it was nothing more than an overgrown tame Rabbit coloured like a Hare.
ref: 1897 February, “Editorial Gleanings”, in W[illiam] L[ucas] Distant, editor, The Zoologist: A Monthly Journal of Natural History, volume I (4th series), number 668, London: West, Newman, & Co., […]; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, page 96:
text: […] [Charles] Darwin was intrigued by contemporary experiments claiming to have produced hare–rabbit crosses or ‘leporines’ (‘most curious, if true’), […] [T]hose supporting the existence of leporines were giving credence to a creature as actually imposible and fabulous as the horned hare.
ref: 2010, Simon Carnell, “Lagographia Curiosa: The Natural and Unnatural History of the Hare”, in Hare (Animal Series), London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 16:
topics: biology
mammalogy
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: A supposed hybrid between a hare and a rabbit, now known not to exist; a leporide.