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When did rabbits first appear in the fossil record?

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rabbit European rabbits (*Oryctolagus cuniculus*).

The family Leporidae, which includes rabbits and hares, first appears in the fossil record during the Eocene Epoch, approximately 40 million years ago.1

While the family Leporidae is well-documented from that time, the broader order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas) has an even earlier history, with the first fossils of mammals possessing lagomorph-like characteristics dating back to the Paleocene Epoch, between 65 and 54.8 million years ago.2