Candiacervus ropalophorus De Vos, 1984

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

"Size 1 is represented by the species C. ropalophorus, and size 2 by the species C. devosi, C. listeri and C. reumeri, each with a distinct antler, skull and tooth morphology. The three species of size 2 together are often referred to as Candiacervus sp. II in the literature. This informal species nomenclature was used in de Vos (1979) and subsequent literature to refer to the three size 2 species combined, which were initially named sp. IIa, IIb and IIc (now respectively C. listeri, C. devosi and C. reumeri). Diagnostic features are limited to the skull, antlers and teeth, while the postcranial material cannot be classified other than to size class, and hence the need for a group name."

(Miszkiewicz & Van Der Geer, 2022)

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: Late Pleistocene

Distribution

Crete

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

De Vos, J. (1984). The endemic Pleistocene deer of Crete. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeling Natuurkunde, Eerste reeks 31: 1-100.

Other references:

Alcover, Josep Antoni et al. (1998). Mammal Species of the World: Additional Data on Insular Mammals. American Museum Novitates 3248, 29 pp., 1 table.

Besiou, Eva, Choupa, Maria Nefeli, Lyras, George, and van der Geer, Alexandra. (2022). Body mass divergence in sympatric deer species of Pleistocene Crete (Greece). Palaeontologia Electronica 25(2): a23. https://doi.org/10.26879/1221

DERMITZAKIS, M.D., and DEVOS, J., 1987, Faunal Succession and the Evolution of Mammals in Crete during the Pleistocene, N.Jb. Geol. Paleont., v,173(3), p. 377-408.

Heckeberg, N. S. (2020). The systematics of the Cervidae: a total evidence approach. PeerJ 8: e8114.

Kolb C, Scheyer TM, Lister AM, Azorit C, De Vos J, Schlingemann MAJ, Rössner GE, Monaghan NT, Sánchez-Villagra MR. (2015). Growth in fossil and extant deer and implications for body size and life history evolution. BMC Evolutionary Biology 15: 1-15.

Lyras, George A. et al. (2019). Paradise lost: Evidence for a devastating metabolic bone disease in an insular Pleistocene deer. International Journal of Paleopathology 24: 213-226. [Abstract]

Miszkiewicz, Justyna J. and Van Der Geer, Alexandra A. E. (2022). Inferring longevity from advanced rib remodelling in insular dwarf deer. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 136(1): 41-58. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blac018

Palombo, M. R., Kohler, M.. Sola, S. Moya and Giovinazzo, C. (2008). Brain versus body mass in endemic ruminant artiodactyls: A case studied of Myotragus balearicus and smallest Candiacervus species from Mediterranean Islands. Quaternary International 182(1): 160-183. [Abstract]

Turvey, Samuel T. (2009). In the shadow of the megafauna: prehistoric mammal and bird extinctions across the Holocene, pp. 17-39. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. New York: Oxford University Press.

van der Geer, Alexandra A. E. (2018). Uniformity in variety: Antler morphology and evolution in a predator-free environment. Palaeontologia Electronica 21.1.9A: 1-31.

van der Geer, Alexandra A. E., De Vos J, Lyras G, Dermitzakis M. (2006). New data on the Pleistocene Cretan deer Candiacervus sp. II (Mammalia, Cervinae). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 256:131-137.

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