Page "Lagomorpha" Paragraph 2

The evolutionary history of the lagomorphs is still not well understood.

Until recently, 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.

More recent examination of the fossil evidence suggests that lagomorphs may have instead descended from Anagaloidea also known as mimotonids, while Eurymylus was more closely related to rodents ( although not a direct ancestor.

) 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.