Brachylagus
| Brachylagus Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
| Pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Lagomorpha |
| Family: | Leporidae |
| Genus: | Brachylagus Miller, 1900 |
| Type species | |
| Lepus idahoensis (Merriam, 1891) | |
| Species | |
Brachylagus (/brækilæɡəs/) is a genus of lagomorph that contained the smallest living leporid, the pygmy rabbit before it was reclassified as a member of Sylvilagus in 2022. The genus name was originally proposed by Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. in 1900 as a subgenus for the pygmy rabbit, as it then had the scientific name Lepus idahoensis, but its characteristics differed greatly from the known subgenera of the time. Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. elevated the subgenus to genus level in 1904. One extinct species, Brachylagus coloradoensis, is known to belong to the genus.