First North African record of a melanistic rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Résumé
Abstract Although melanism is common in some mammal species, particularly in domestic forms, its occurrence in lagomorphs is rare. We report the first records of melanistic wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus in North Africa. These were obtained from a camera-trap set in Tiaret governorate, Algeria, in 2019 and 2020. Melanism is restricted to few species of Leporidae, genera Sylvilagus and Lepus . Dark rabbits have been reported to a new subspecies from Camargue (France), however this status is not recognized any longer.