Cervinae


The Cervinae or the Old World deer, are a subfamily of deer. Alternatively, they are known as the plesiometacarpal deer, due to having lost the parts of the second and fifth metacarpal bones closest to the foot, distinct from the telemetacarpal deer of the Capreolinae.

Classification and species

The following species are recognised in extant genera:
The taxonomy of Cervini is poorly resolved due to conflict between nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA phylogenies:
Mitchondrial DNA phylogeny after Heckeberg and Xiao et al. 2023
Nuclear DNA phylogeny after Heckeberg

Extinct genera

Cervinae is suggested to have split from Capreolinae at least 13.8 million years ago based on the first appearance of Euprox, suggested to be a stem-group cervine in Europe at this time. Modern Cervinae first appeared during the Late Miocene in Eastern Asia, arriving in the Indian subcontinent and Europe during the Early Pilocene. The ancestor of Cervinae probably had a bifurcated antlers similar to muntjacs, with the complex antlers of Cervini evolving independently from those of Capreolinae. Cervinae radiated during the Early Pleistocene, becoming the dominant group of deer across Eurasia.