Search

The Annamite striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi is a little-known and Endangered lagomorph endemic to the Annamites ecoregion of Vietnam and Laos. The species’ known distribution extends from the northern to central Annamites. Here, we report the first records of the species from the southern Annamites. We recorded camera-trap photographs of Annamite striped rabbit in Bidoup – Nui Ba National Park, located in Lam Dong province, Vietnam. The photographs represent the first records of the species from the southern Annamites, and a significant southern range extension. We discuss the implications of this finding for Annamite striped rabbit conservation.

The Annamite mountains of Vietnam and Laos are a global biodiversity hotspot harboring several threatened endemic species. Conservation efforts to protect these endemics are hampered by a lack of knowledge on their ecology and distribution. We conducted landscape scale camera-trapping across six study areas in the Annamites to assess distribution patterns of two endemics: the Annamite dark muntjac species complex Muntiacus rooseveltorum/ truongsonensis and the Annamite striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi. We used a Bayesian single-species occupancy framework to estimate occupancy as a function of ecological and anthropogenic factors. Our study showed that Annamite dark muntjac was predominantly found at higher elevations (>1000 m) and in areas that were more inaccessible to people and had lower surrounding village density. Annamite striped rabbit exhibited both positive and negative responses to elevation among study areas, with no clear response to the anthropogenic covariates. Our results showed that covariate responses varied among the study areas when random effects were included on study areas. We discuss the application of random effects to investigate species occupancies across large spatial scales, and the risk of not accounting for variation among study areas. Our prediction maps provide the first comprehensive overview of the distribution of these endemic species across a substantial part of their range and can be used to help stakeholders focus conservation efforts on priority areas.

The Annamite mountains of Viet Nam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao) are an area of exceptional mammalian endemism but intensive poaching has defaunated much of the region, creating an extinction crisis for the endemic species. To make efficient use of limited conservation resources, it is imperative that conservation stakeholders obtain basic information about poorly known and threatened endemics. We present the first comprehensive information on the ecology, distribution and status of the little-known endemic Annamite striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi. We used a systematic camera-trapping design to study the species in five areas in Viet Nam and Lao. In 29,180 camera-trap-nights we recorded 152 independent events at 36 of 266 stations. We obtained an additional 143 independent detections across 12 stations from a supplementary non-systematic survey. We analysed activity patterns and social behaviour. We also used single-species occupancy models to assess factors that influence occupancy at the landscape scale. We used N-mixture models to obtain local abundance estimates in one target area. The Annamite striped rabbit was found to be nocturnal and primarily solitary. Species occupancy was best explained by a proxy for past hunting pressure, with no significant relationships to current anthropogenic or environmental factors. Local abundance was 0.57 individuals per camera-trap station for one of our sites, and estimated to be zero at the other site where hunting appears to have been more intense. Our results provide information on priority areas for targeted anti-poaching efforts and give the first conservation baseline for the species.

Information on geographic patterns of species genetic diversity is often needed to inform conservation strategies. Obtaining data over large geographic areas can be difficult, especially for rare or elusive species. Here, we explore the use of invertebrate‐derived DNA (iDNA) obtained from terrestrial leeches to assess genetic diversity of the Annamite striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi, a little‐known and highly threatened lagomorph endemic to the Annamites ecoregion of Vietnam and Laos. We collected 4,877 leeches pooled into 651 leech bulk samples from eight study areas across the northern and central Annamites. Using metabarcoding, we detected Annamite striped rabbit DNA in 11 leech bulk samples from five of the study areas. We amplified up to 3,000 bp of six mitochondrial DNA loci of Annamite striped rabbit from nine of the 11 bulk samples. Haplotype network analyses showed five shared haplotypes among these samples. Phylogenetic trees constructed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference showed little geographic structuring among the Annamite striped rabbit populations across the five study areas. Our results provide information that can be directly used to inform planned ex situ conservation measures for the Annamite striped rabbit. We discuss our results within the context of using iDNA to noninvasively obtain data to assess species genetic diversity, and the potential of this approach to be applied to other species and systems.

The distribution of a new species of striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi Averianov, Abramov et Tikhonov, 2000 is restricted to the central part of the Annamite Mountains, along the border between Vietnam and Laos. A low density of separated populations and hunting pressure in Vietnam already makes this species critically endangered.