Family Cervidae Rank Subspecies | Phylum Chordata Order Artiodactyla Subfamily Cervinae | |
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Similar Pseudodama, Praemegaceros, Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis, Tibetan red deer, Eucladoceros | ||
Cervus elaphus acoronatus is an extinct subspecies of deer belonging to the family Cervidae. Some authors consider it a distinct species, named Cervus acoronatus.
Description
Cervus elaphus acoronatus was a deer of large size, similar to that of the existing Cervus elaphus, with large and well developed antlers. In this archaic form the antlers lack at their apex, even in adult individuals, the characteristic multi-pointed crown (hence the Latin name acoronatus, meaning without crown). In this subspecies the antlers have a simple distal fork oriented transversally to the axis of the body.
It is a deer of Eastern origin reported in Central Europe in Pleistocene. The fossil records of Cervus elaphus acoronatus start in the lower Middle Pleistocene. Later the morphology of the antlers changed, developing the mentioned crown.