Agalmaceros | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Cervidae |
Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
Genus: | †
Agalmaceros Hoffstetter 1952 |
Species: | †A. blicki
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Binomial name | |
†Agalmaceros blicki
Frick 1937
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Agalmaceros is a potentially invalid extinct genus of deer of the Cervidae family, that lived in South America during the Pleistocene. The only species currently known is A. blicki. [1] Remains have only been found in Ecuador. It showed a clear affinity to Andean or temperate habitats. [2] Agalmaceros blicki is estimated to have been 60 kilograms (130 lb) in weight. [3]
A 2023 paper considered another extinct South American deer genus, Charitoceros, a junior synonym of Agalmaceros; both taxa are diagnosed by the presence of thorns on their antlers. Furthermore, these thorns are symptoms of a pathology that also affects some extant deer; besides thorns, the antlers of Agalmaceros are identical to those of the modern white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Thus, the authors consider Agalmaceros to be itself a junior synonym of O. virginianus, which would render both Agalmaceros and Charitoceros invalid taxa. [4]