The most ancient evidence of a diseased lagomorph: Infectious paleopathology in a tibiofibular bone (Middle Miocene, Germany)

Few pathological cases have been identified in fossils of small mammals. Here we report the most ancient paleopathological evidence identified in a lagomorph (Ochotonidae, middle Miocene). The tibiofibular bone was macro- and microscopically (μCT) inspected to provide a diagnosis, an etiology, and its possible relationship with the individual's cause of death. Osteogenesis (reactive bone growth) and osteolysis, processes related with neoplasms...