Editing Lagomorpha (section)

== Taxonomy and evolutionary history ==
Other names used for this order, now considered [[synonym (taxonomy)|synonymous]], include: ''Duplicidentata'' (Illiger, 1811); ''Leporida'' (Averianov, 1999); ''Neolagomorpha'' (Averianov, 1999); ''Ochotonida'' (Averianov, 1999); and ''Palarodentia'' (Haeckel, 1895; Lilian, 2016).<ref name=MSW/>

The evolutionary history of the lagomorphs is still not well understood. In the late 20th century, it was generally agreed that ''[[Eurymylus]]'', which lived in eastern Asia and dates back to the late [[Paleocene]] or early [[Eocene]], was an ancestor of the lagomorphs.<ref name=EoDP>{{cite book |editor-last=Palmer |editor-first=D. |year=1999 |title=The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals |publisher=Marshall Editions |location=London |pages=285 |isbn=1-84028-152-9}}</ref> Examination of the fossil evidence in the 21st century suggested that the lagomorphs may have instead descended from mimotonids, mammals present in Asia during the [[Paleogene]] with similar body size and dental structure to early European rabbits such as ''[[Megalagus turgidus]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fostowicz-Frelik |first=Łucja |last2=Li |first2=Chuankui |last3=Mao |first3=Fangyuan |last4=Meng |first4=Jin |last5=Wang |first5=Yuanqing |date=2015-03-30 |title=A large mimotonid from the Middle Eocene of China sheds light on the evolution of lagomorphs and their kin |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep09394 |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.1038/srep09394 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=4377629 |pmid=25818513}}</ref> while ''Eurymylus'' was more closely related to [[rodent]]s (although not a direct ancestor).<ref name=BAoM>{{cite book |last=Rose |first=Kenneth David |year=2006 |title=The Beginning of the Age of Mammals |publisher=The [[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |pages=315 |isbn=0-8018-8472-1}}</ref> The leporids first appeared in the late Eocene and rapidly spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere; they show a trend towards increasingly long hind limbs as the modern leaping gait developed. The pikas appeared somewhat later in the [[Oligocene]] of eastern Asia.<ref name=MamEv>{{cite book |last=Savage |first=RJG |others=Illustrated by Long, MR |year=1986 |title=Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mammalevolutioni0000sava/page/128 128–129] |isbn=0-8160-1194-X |url=https://archive.org/details/mammalevolutioni0000sava/page/128}}</ref>

Lagomorphs were certainly more diverse in the past than in the present, with around 75 genera and over 230 species represented in the fossil record and many more species in a single [[biome]]. This is evidence that lagomorph lineages are declining.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Alves|editor-first1=Paulo C.|editor-last2=Ferrand|editor-first2=Nuno|editor-last3=Hackländer|editor-first3=Klaus|year=2008|title=Lagomorph Biology: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|location=Berlin, Heidelberg|pages=27–46|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9d8_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|chapter-url-access=limited|chapter=The Lagomorph Fossil Record and the Origin of the European Rabbit|author-last1=Lopez-Martinez|author-first1=Nieves|doi=10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9|isbn=978-3-540-72445-2|oclc=166358165|quote=[...] which denotes that lagomorph lineages are also declining in recent times.}}</ref>

A 2008 study suggests an [[Indian subcontinent#Geology|Indian]] origin for the order, having possibly evolved in isolation when India was an island continent in the [[Paleocene]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rose |first1=K.D. |last2=Deleon |first2=V.B. |last3=Mmissian |first3=P. |last4=Rana |first4=R.S. |last5=Sahni |first5=A. |last6=Singh |first6=L. |last7=Smith |first7=T. |date=2008 |title=Early Eocene lagomorph (Mammalia) from western India and the early diversification of Lagomorpha |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=275 |issue=1639 |pages=1203–1208 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.1661 |pmid=18285282 |pmc=2602686}}</ref>