The Cervinae or the Old World deer, are a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. Alternatively, they are known as the plesiometacarpal deer, due to their ankle structure being different from the telemetacarpal deer of the

Capreolinae The Capreolinae, Odocoileinae, or the New World deer are a subfamily of deer. Alternatively, they are known as the telemetacarpal deer, due to their bone structure being different from the plesiometacarpal deer subfamily Cervinae. The telemetac ...

Classification and species

The following species are recognised in extant genera:Alvarez D. (2007) * Tribe

Muntiacini Muntiacini is a tribe of deer, containing two genera: * ''Elaphodus'' * ''Muntiacus'' Muntiacini was considered to be a subfamily, Muntiacinae, but is now considered a tribe in Cervinae The Cervinae or the Old World deer, are a subfamily of ...

** Genus ''

Elaphodus The tufted deer (''Elaphodus cephalophus'') is a small species of deer characterized by a prominent tuft of black hair on its forehead and fang-like canines for the males. It is a close relative of the muntjac, living somewhat further north over ...

'' ***

Tufted deer The tufted deer (''Elaphodus cephalophus'') is a small species of deer characterized by a prominent tuft of black hair on its forehead and fang-like canines for the males. It is a close relative of the muntjac, living somewhat further north over ...

(''E. cephalophus'') ** Genus ''

Muntiacus Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

'' ***

Bornean yellow muntjac The Bornean yellow muntjac (''Muntiacus atherodes'') is a muntjac species endemic to the moist forests of Borneo. Taxonomy It lives alongside the common muntjac. It is similar to its much more common cousin and was only recognised as a separate ...

(''M. atherodes'') ***

Hairy-fronted muntjac The hairy-fronted muntjac or black muntjac (''Muntiacus crinifrons'') is a type of deer currently found in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian in southeastern China. It is considered to be endangered, possibly down to as few as 5–10,000 individ ...

(''M. crinifrons'') ***

Fea's muntjac The Fea's muntjac or Tenasserim muntjac (''Muntiacus feae'') is a rare species of muntjac native to southern Myanmar and Thailand. It is a similar size to the common muntjac (adult weight is 18 – 21 kg (40 - 46 lb)). It is diurnal and ...

(''M. feae'') ***

Gongshan muntjac The Gongshan muntjac (''Muntiacus gongshanensis'') is a species of muntjac (a type of deer) living in the Gongshan mountains in northwestern Yunnan, southeast Tibet, Northeast India (especially in Arunachal Pradesh) and northern Myanmar. Ongoin ...

(''M. gongshanensis'') ***

Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

(''M. muntjak'') *** Sumatran muntjac (''M. montanum'') ***

Pu Hoat muntjac The Pu Hoat muntjac (''Muntiacus puhoatensis'') is a species of muntjac only known from Pu Hoat region in Vietnam, which is bordering Laos. It is sometimes considered to be conspecific with Roosevelt's muntjac, and its habitat and behavior are li ...

(''M. puhoatensis'') ***

Leaf muntjac The leaf muntjac, leaf deer or Putao muntjac (''Muntiacus putaoensis'') is a small species of muntjac. It was documented in 1997 by biologist Alan Rabinowitz during his field study in the isolated Nogmung Township in Myanmar. Rabinowitz discovered ...

(''M. putaoensis'') ***

Reeves's muntjac Reeves's muntjac (''Muntiacus reevesi''; ), also known as the Chinese muntjac, is a muntjac species found widely in southeastern China (from Gansu to Yunnan) and Taiwan. It has also been introduced in Europe, western United States and Japan. It ...

(''M. reevesi'') ***

Roosevelt's muntjac A single specimen of the Roosevelt's muntjac or Roosevelt's barking deer (''Muntiacus rooseveltorum'') was presented to the Field Museum in 1929 following the Kelley-Roosevelts expedition organized by Theodore (Jnr) and Kermit Roosevelt. The ...

(''M. rooseveltorum'') ***

Truong Son muntjac The Truong Son muntjac or Annamite muntjac (''Muntiacus truongsonensis'') is a species of muntjac deer. It is one of the smallest muntjac species, at about , half the size of the Indian muntjac (or common muntjac). It was discovered in the Truon ...

or Annamite muntjac (''M. truongsonensis'') ***

Giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in ce ...

(''M. vuquangensis'') * Tribe Cervini ("true" deer) ** Genus '' Dama'' ***

Common fallow deer The European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), also known as the common fallow deer or simply fallow deer, is a species of ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. It is historically native to Turkey and possibly the Italian Peninsula, Bal ...

(''D. dama'') ***

Persian fallow deer The Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamica'') is a deer species once native to all of the Middle East, but currently only living in Iran and Israel. It was reintroduced in Israel. It has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 200 ...

(''D. mesopotamica'') ** Genus ''

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

'' ***

Chital The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Po ...

(''A. axis'') ***

Calamian deer The Calamian deer (''Axis calamianensis''), also known as Calamian hog deer, is an endangered species of deer found only in the Calamian Islands of Palawan province in the Philippines. It is one of three species of deer native to the Philippi ...

(''A. calamianensis'') ***

Bawean deer The Bawean deer (''Axis kuhlii''), also known as Kuhl's hog deer or Bawean hog deer, is a highly threatened species of deer endemic to the island of Bawean in Indonesia. Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size and limited range, t ...

(''A. kuhlii'') ***

Indian hog deer The Indian hog deer (''Axis porcinus'') is a small deer native to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh to mainland Southeast Asia. It also occurs in western Thailand, and is possibly extirpated from China (in s ...

(''A. porcinus'') ** Genus ''

Rucervus ''Rucervus'' is a genus of deer from India, Nepal, Indochina, and the Chinese island of Hainan. The only extant representatives, the barasingha (''R. duvaucelii)'' and Eld's deer (''R. eldii''), are threatened by habitat loss and hunting, and an ...

'' ***

Barasingha The barasingha (''Rucervus duvaucelii''), also known as the swamp deer, is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal. ...

(''R. duvaucelii'') ***

Eld's deer Eld's deer (''Rucervus eldii'' or ''Panolia eldii''Pitraa, Fickela, Meijaard, Groves (2004). ''Evolution and phylogeny of old world deer.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 880–895.), also known as the thamin or brow-antlered deer, is ...

(''R. eldii'') *** †

Schomburgk's deer The Schomburgk's deer (''Rucervus schomburgki'') is an extinct species of deer once endemic to central Thailand. It was described by Edward Blyth in 1863 and named after Sir Robert H. Schomburgk, who was the British consul in Bangkok from 1857 t ...

(''R. schomburgki'') ** Genus ''

Elaphurus ''Elaphurus'' is a genus of deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and ...

'' ***

Père David's deer The Père David's deer (''Elaphurus davidianus''), also known as the ''milu'' () or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the subtropical river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of ...

(''E. davidianus'') ** Genus '' Rusa'' ***

Visayan spotted deer The Visayan spotted deer (''Rusa alfredi''), also known as the Visayan deer, the Philippine spotted deer or Prince Alfred's deer, is a nocturnal and endangered species of deer located primarily in the rainforests of the Visayan islands of Panay ...

or Prince Alfred's deer (''R. alfredi'') ***

Philippine deer The Philippine deer (''Rusa marianna''), also known as the Philippine sambar or Philippine brown deer, is a vulnerable deer species endemic to the Philippines. It was first described from introduced populations in the Mariana Islands, hence t ...

or Philippine sambar (''R. mariannus'') *** Javan rusa deer (''R. timorensis'') *** Sambar (''R. unicolor'') ** Genus ''

Cervus ''Cervus'' is a genus of deer that primarily are native to Eurasia, although one species occurs in northern Africa and another in North America. In addition to the species presently placed in this genus, it has included a whole range of other sp ...

'' ***

Thorold's deer Thorold's deer (''Cervus albirostris'')Pitraa, Fickela, Meijaard, Groves (2004). ''Evolution and phylogeny of old world deer.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 880–895. is a threatened species of deer found in grassland, shrubland, an ...

(''C. albirostris'') ***

Elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

or American wapiti (''C. canadensis'') ***

Red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

(''C. elaphus'') ***

Central Asian red deer The Central Asian red deer (''Cervus hanglu''), also known as the Tarim red deer is a deer species native to Central Asia, where it used to be widely distributed, but is scattered today with small population units in several countries. It has bee ...

(''C. hanglu'') ***

Sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to ...

(''C. nippon'')

Extinct genera

*†'' Amphiprox'' *†''

Candiacervus ''Candiacervus'' is an extinct genus of deer native to Pleistocene Crete. Due to a lack of other herbivores, the genus underwent an adaptive radiation, filling niches occupied by other taxa on the mainland. Due to the small size of Crete, the gen ...

'' *†''

Cervavitus ''Cervavitus'' is a genus of prehistoric deer that lived from the late Miocene (Vallesian age) to the Early Pleistocene (Villafranchian age) in parts of Western and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and China. Description It is characterized by havi ...

'' *†'' Croizetoceros'' *†'' Dicrocerus'' *†''

Eucladoceros ''Eucladoceros'' (Greek for "well-branched antler") or bush-antlered deer is an extinct genus of deer whose fossils have been discovered in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. This genus was formally described by Hugh Falconer in 1868.Fal ...

'' *†''

Euprox ''Euprox'' is an extinct genus of deer that lived in Eurasia during the Miocene. Taxonomy The type species ''Euprox furcatus'' was originally under the genus ''Prox'', but that name was preoccupied. Depéret assigned it to the related genus ''Di ...

'' *†'' Haploidoceros'' *†'' Heteroprox'' *†''

Megaceroides ''Megaceroides algericus'' is an extinct species of deer known from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene of North Africa. It is one of only two species of deer known to have been native to the African continent, alongside the Barbary stag, a subs ...

'' *†''

Megaloceros ''Megaloceros'' (from Greek: + , literally "Great Horn"; see also Lister (1987)) is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the early Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene and were important herbivores durin ...

'' *†''

Praemegaceros ''Praemegaceros'' is an extinct genus of deer, known from the Pleistocene and Holocene of Western Eurasia. It contains the subgenera ''Praemegaceros,'' ''Orthogonoceros'' and ''Nesoleipoceros''. It has sometimes been synonymised with '' Megalocer ...

'' *†''

Pseudodama ''Pseudodama'' is an extinct species of deer found in Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is al ...

'' *†''

Sinomegaceros ''Sinomegaceros'' is an extinct genus of deer known from the Early to Late Pleistocene of Central and East Asia. It is considered to be part of the group of "giant deer" (often referred to collectively as members of the tribe Megacerini), with a ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q122431 Deer Taxa named by Georg August Goldfuss Mammal subfamilies