The Central Asian red deer (Cervus hanglu), also known as the Tarim red deer, is a
deerspecies native to
Central Asia, where it used to be widely distributed, but is scattered today with small population units in several countries. It has been listed as
Least Concern on the
IUCN Red List since 2017.[1] It was first
described in the mid-19th century.[2]
Characteristics
The Central Asian red deer's fur is light ginger in colour.[2]
Taxonomy
The
scientific nameCervus hanglu was proposed by
Johann Andreas Wagner in 1844 for a deer
specimen from
Kashmir that differed from the
red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the shape and points of the
antlers.[2]
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the following red deer specimens from Central Asia were described:
Cervus cashmeriensis was proposed by
Andrew Leith Adams in 1858 for the red deer occurring in the montane forests of Kashmir.[3]
Cervus bactrianus proposed by
Richard Lydekker in 1900 was a live deer caught in the vicinity of
Tashkent in
Uzbekistan and brought to
England.[5] Two years later, he considered this ungulate to be a red deer
subspecies (C. e. bactrianus).[6]
Cervus hagenbeckii proposed by a Russian zoologist in 1904 for a red deer from
Russian Turkestan that was sent to the
Moscow Zoo in the 1890s.[7]
IUCN Red List assessors provisionally recognised its status as a distinct species in 2017.[1]
The Central Asian red deer is thought to comprise three subspecies:
An analysis of
mitochondrial DNA of 125 tissue samples from 50 populations of the
genusCervus included two samples from
Tajikistan and three from western China. The results supported the classification of the red deer populations in Central Asia as two distinct red deer subspecies.[10]
Results of a subsequent
phylogenetic analysis of
Cervinae tissue samples indicated that deer samples from Central Asia form a distinct
clade and warrant to be raised to
species level.[11]
The Central Asian red deer group appears to have
genetically diverged from the European red deer group during the
Chibanian period between 770,000 and 126,000 years ago.[12]
The first phylogenetic analysis using hair samples of the deer population in
Dachigam National Park in
Jammu and Kashmir was published in 2015. Results showed that these samples form a sub
cluster within the Central Asian red deer group; they are genetically closer to this group than to the European red deer.[13]
^
abcWagner, J.A. (1844).
"Der Bahra-Singha". In Schreber, J.C.D. (ed.). Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Vol. Supplement 4. Erlangen: Expedition des Schreber'schen Säugthier- und des Esper'schen Schmetterlingswerkes. pp. 351–353.
^Adams, L. A. (1858).
"Chapter X". Wanderings of a naturalist in India : the western Himalayas, and Cashmere. Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas. pp. 176–207.
^Ellerman, J.R. & Morrison-Scott, T.C.S. (1951).
"Cervus elaphus, Linnaeus 1758". Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian mammals 1758 to 1946 (First ed.). London: British Museum (Natural History). pp. 367–370.