Megaloceros (from Greek: μεγαλος megalos + κερας keras, literally "Great Horn"; see also Lister (1987)) is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The type and only undisputed member of the genus, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish elk" or "giant deer", is also the best known. Fallow deer are thought to be their closest living relatives.[1][2][3] Megaloceros is thought to be closely related to the East Asian genus Sinomegaceros, as well as possibly other extinct genera of "giant deer".
Megaloceros Temporal range: late Early Pleistocene to Middle Holocene~
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Skeleton of Megaloceros giganteus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Cervidae |
Subfamily: | Cervinae |
Tribe: | Cervini |
Genus: | †Megaloceros Brookes, 1828 |
Species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Other than the type species Megaloceros giganteus, the composition of the genus is contested.[4][5][6] While considered to be part of the genus Megaloceros by many authors,[7] M. savini and related taxa (novocarthaginiensis and matritensis) are split into the separate genus Praedama by some scholars.[4][5][8]
Megaloceros has often been placed in the tribe Megacerini, alongside other "giant deer" genera like Sinomegaceros and Praemegaceros, though the taxonomy regarding giant deer as whole is uncertain and contested.[4] A close relationship with Sinomegaceros has been supported by mitochondrial DNA, which found that the mitochondrial sequences of M. giganteus are nested within those of Sinomegaceros, suggesting that the two lineages interbred with each other after the initial split between them, with all mitochondrial genomes of Sinomegaceros more closely related to those of M. giganteus than to their closest living relative Dama.[9]
Relationships of Megaloceros mitochondrial genomes, after Xiao et al. 2023.[9]
Sinomegaceros+Megaloceros |
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Species ordered from oldest to youngest:
Megaceroides algericus from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene of North Africa has been considered to be closely related and possibly derived from Megaloceros by some authors.[11]
"M". stravpolensis from the Early Pleistocene of Southwestern Russia[12] has been subsequently suggested to belong to Arvernoceros.[5][7]