The fallow deer Dama pontica sp. nov. (Artiodactyla, Cervidae) from the Lower pleistocene of Taurida cave in the Crimea and the early history of the genus Dama

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Abstract

A new fallow deer species Dama pontica is described from the late Early Pleistocene of Taurida cave in the Crimea. The antlers of this medium-sized deer had a small first process at the burr and a primitively narrow proximal palmation. The morphology of D. pontica sp. nov. allows it to be referred to a phylogenetic branch of the modern Iranian fallow deer, D. mesopotamica (Brooke, 1875). The fossil remains of Dama from the Taurida cave are the oldest in Europe. The age of the Taurida fauna, according to biochronology, is estimated at 1.8–1.5 Ma. The find indicates that the divergence of the European and Mesopotamian branches of fallow deer occurred no later than 1.5 Ma. Hypotheses about the origin of Dama (s.s.) from ‘Pseudodama’ at the Early – Middle Pleistocene transition require revision.

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About the authors

I. А. Vislobokova

Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: ivisl@paleo.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. Dama pontica sp. nov., holotype PIN, No. 5644/3380, part of the left frontal bone with the base of the horn: a – from the front, b – from above, c – from the medial side, g – from the lateral side; d–l – tomography: 3D models, from the front (g), from above (i), with cross-sections of the rosette (d), stump (e), first process (h), trunk below the break (k) and at the first bifurcation (k); Crimea, Taurida Cave; Lower Pleistocene.

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3. Fig. 2. Scheme of the chronological position of representatives of the genus Dama. Not to scale. Late Pleistocene.

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