Agalmaceros is a potentially invalid extinct genus of deer of the Cervidae family, that lived in South America during the Pleistocene. The only species currently known is A. blicki.[1] Remains have only been found in Ecuador. It showed a clear affinity to Andean or temperate habitats.[2] Agalmaceros blicki is estimated to have been 60 kilograms (130 lb) in weight.[3]
| Agalmaceros | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
| Genus: | †Agalmaceros Hoffstetter 1952 |
| Species: | †A. blicki
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Agalmaceros blicki Frick 1937
| |
A 2023 paper considered another extinct South American deer genus, Charitoceros, a junior synonym of Agalmaceros; both taxa are diagnosed by the presence of thorns on their antlers. Furthermore, these thorns are symptoms of a pathology that also affects some extant deer; besides thorns, the antlers of Agalmaceros are identical to those of the modern white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Thus, the authors consider Agalmaceros to be itself a junior synonym of O. virginianus, which would render both Agalmaceros and Charitoceros invalid taxa.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Agalmaceros blicki". Fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Ochsenius, Claudio (1985). "Pleniglacial Desertization, Large-AnimalMassExtinction and Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in South America" (PDF). Revista de Geografía Norte Grande. 12: 35–47.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lyons, Kathleen (2004). "Of mice, mastodons and men: human-mediated extinctions on four continents" (PDF). Evolutionary Ecology Research. 6: 339–358.
- ^ Avilla, Leonardo Santos; Román-Carrión, José Luis; Rotti, Alline (2023-11-06). "A thorny taxonomic issue of Quaternary deer (Cervidae: Mammalia) from the South American Highlands resolved based on the recognition of a paleopathology". Journal of Quaternary Science. doi:10.1002/jqs.3577. ISSN 0267-8179.
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