About Sylvilagus brasiliensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Sylvilagus brasiliensis, commonly known as the common tapeti, is a small to medium-sized rabbit species. It has a head-body length of 320 mm (13 in), a 21 mm (0.83 in) tail, 71 mm (2.8 in) hind feet, and 54 mm (2.1 in) ears, measured from notch to tip. Its average body weight is 934 g (32.9 oz). Its back is brown with a speckled pattern, created by black hair tips, and it has a rufous spot on its neck. Its belly and the underside of its tail are also rufous. This species has six mammae. Two different karyotypes have been recorded for the common tapeti: 2n=36, FN=68; and 2n=40, FN=76. Common tapitis are solitary, primarily crepuscular animals most active after nightfall or before dawn. They feed on grass and browse, and have also been recorded eating Harrya chromapes, a bolete mushroom. This species inhabits forested areas close to swamps and river edges, as well as disturbed areas including gardens and plantations. More specifically, it lives in tropical rain forests, deciduous forests, and second-growth forests, as well as pastures surrounding forest habitat. Its distribution starts in southern Tamaulipas, Mexico, extending south along Mexico's eastern coast through Guatemala, possibly El Salvador, Honduras, eastern Nicaragua, eastern Costa Rica, and Panama. It also occurs across the northern half of South America, including Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina, and most of Brazil. The southernmost point of its confirmed distribution is in Tucuman province, Argentina. It can be found at elevations ranging from sea level up to 4,800 m (15,700 ft), and it is the only leporid species present across most of its range. Female common tapitis build above-ground nests from dry grasses to raise their young. These nests have a central chamber connected to a corridor that ends in three or four smaller side chambers. The species' gestation period varies by geographic location. Populations in Chiapas, Mexico, have a gestation period of around 28 days and produce three to eight offspring per litter. Populations in the Andes Páramos have a 44-day gestation period and an average litter size of 1.2. Both populations breed year-round. Like its close relative the California brush rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani), the common tapeti is a natural reservoir for the myxoma virus. This relationship was first discovered in the 1940s by Brazilian physician Henrique de Beaurepaire Rohan Aragão. The virus causes only benign cutaneous fibroma in common tapeti hosts, but it causes the lethal disease myxomatosis in European rabbits.
