Glires
Glires are a class of mammals with rootless incisors that grow throughout their lives. These mammals are thought to have grown from Eutherian and are composed of rodents and lagomorphs. Like other insectivorous, Glires walk on fours and can be fast-moving with an excellent sense of hearing and smell. Most of these animals are herbivorous while others like rodents can be scavengers. They inhabit many terrestrial environments with the hares living in bushes or forests while their cousins the rabbit being domesticated. These animals like Eulipotyphla live in solitary, have claws, and strong limbs for digging tunnels and bodies covered in fur.
It is believed that Lagomorphs and rodents diverged about 64.5 million years ago. Lagomorphs and rodents diverged at the start of the Tertiary time period and at the end of the Cretaceous time period. Their divergence happened as a response reaction to global environmental change.
It is believed that rabbits and rodents have a common ancestor which is why they share similar characteristics and physical traits. Some of those similar traits have been lost in some lineages while they have been retained within others. Although they do share a common ancestor it is not known who the common ancestor was.
The rabbit is not a rodent and is not part of the Rodentia group of mammals, although they are often confused. Rabbits are differentiated from rodents by their extra pair of incisors directly located one behind the other as well as other skeletal features. Rabbits and hares are part of the group Lagomorpha.
