Ochotona spanglei | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | Ochotonidae |
Genus: | Ochotona |
Species: | †O. spanglei
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Binomial name | |
†Ochotona spanglei |
Ochotona spanglei is an extinct species of pika (mammal in the family Ochotonidae), known from Late Miocene - Early Pliocene fossil from Oregon (USA).[1][2][n 1] Fossils were also found in Nebraska referred to as Ochotona cf. spanglei.[2][3][n 1]
Ochotona spanglei is the earliest known pika, which inhabited North America. Pika came at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary from Eurasia. Extinction of O. spanglei was followed by an approximately three-million-year-long gap in the known North American pikas record.[4]