Agalmaceros
Extinct genus of deer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
| Agalmaceros | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
| Genus: | †Agalmaceros Hoffstetter 1952 |
| Species: | †A. blicki |
| Binomial name | |
| †Agalmaceros blicki Frick 1937 | |
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) but larger . Thus, the authors consider Agalmaceros to be itself a junior synonym of O. virginianus, which would render both Agalmaceros and Charitoceros invalid taxa.[4]
