Editing South African springhare (section)

== Etymology and taxonomy ==
The springhare was named in English by [[William John Burchell]] in 1822, who derived "springhare" from the [[Afrikaans]] name {{Lang|af|springhaas}}.<ref>{{Cite OED|term=springhare|id=1086241959|access-date=22 December 2024}}</ref> The [[Generic name (biology)|generic name]] ''Pedetes'' comes from the Greek {{Lang|el|Πηδητές}} (Pidités), meaning "leaper or dancer".<ref name=":0">{{HMW2016 Volume 6|pages=280-288|first1=R.|last1=López-Antoñanzas|chapter=Family Pedetidae (Springhares)}}</ref> The [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]] ''capensis'', a [[Latin]] word meaning "of the Cape", refers to the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and [[Cape Province]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sookias |first=Roland B. |last2=Dilkes |first2=David |last3=Sobral |first3=Gabriela |last4=Smith |first4=Roger M. H. |last5=Wolvaardt |first5=Frederik P. |last6=Arcucci |first6=Andrea B. |last7=Bhullar |first7=Bhart-Anjan S. |last8=Werneburg |first8=Ingmar |date=July 2020 |title=The craniomandibular anatomy of the early archosauriform Euparkeria capensis and the dawn of the archosaur skull |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.200116 |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=7 |issue=7 |pages=200116 |doi=10.1098/rsos.200116 |issn=2054-5703 |pmc=7428278 |pmid=32874620}}</ref> the species' [[Type locality (biology)|type locality]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Honacki |first=James H. |last2=Kinman |first2=Kenneth E. |last3=Koeppl |first3=James W. |date=1982-12-31 |title=Mammal Species of the World |url=https://zenodo.org/records/7433839 |chapter=''Pedetes capensis'' (Forster, 1778) |edition=1st |location=Lawrence, Kansas, USA |publisher=Alien Press, Inc. & The Association of Systematics Collections |volume=Order Rodentia (Part 3) |page=392 |doi=10.5281/ZENODO.7433839}}</ref>

Originally named as ''Yerbua capensis'' by [[Johann Reinhold Forster]] in 1778, using a [[genus]] that was applied to kangaroos in the previous year by [[Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Raven |first=H. C. |date=1939 |title=The Identity of Captain Cook's Kangaroo |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1374491 |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=50–57 |doi=10.2307/1374491 |issn=0022-2372|url-access=subscription }}</ref> the species (at the time considered [[Monotypic taxon|monotypic]], since the [[East African springhare]] was not identified until 1902) was renamed to ''[[Dipus]] cafer'' by [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in 1788, placing it in the [[jerboa]] family. The genus ''[[Pedetes]]'' was created by Caroli Illigeri in 1811, when the species was renamed ''Pedetes cafer''; contemporary naturalists would recognize the precedence of the specific name ''capensis'' and corrected the species to ''P. capensis'' in the early 19th century.<ref name=":0" />