Dama clactoniana
{{Short description|Extinct species of deer}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = Middle Pleistocene
| image = Em - Dama dama clactoniana - 1.jpg
| genus = Dama
| species = clactoniana
| authority = Falconer in Murchison, 1868
}}
Dama clactoniana is an extinct species of fallow deer (genus Dama). It lived during the Middle Pleistocene (with fossils spanning around 500-300,000 years ago). It is widely agreed to be the Dama species most closely related and likely ancestral to the two living species of fallow deer (being sometimes treated as a subspecies of Dama dama as Dama dama clactoniana) and like them has palmate antlers.{{Cite journal |last1=van der Made |first1=Jan |last2=Rodríguez-Alba |first2=Juan José |last3=Martos |first3=Juan Antonio |last4=Gamarra |first4=Jesús |last5=Rubio-Jara |first5=Susana |last6=Panera |first6=Joaquín |last7=Yravedra |first7=José |date=April 2023 |title=The fallow deer Dama celiae sp. nov. with two-pointed antlers from the Middle Pleistocene of Madrid, a contemporary of humans with Acheulean technology |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |volume=15 |issue=4 |doi=10.1007/s12520-023-01734-3 |issn=1866-9557 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=10261/307292}}
Description
While the size of the species is variable, specimens tend to be on average larger than both living fallow deer species. The fourth lower premolar is not molarized.{{Cite journal |last=Mecozzi |first=Beniamino |last2=Sardella |first2=Raffaele |last3=Breda |first3=Marzia |date=March 2024 |title=Late Early to late Middle Pleistocene medium-sized deer from the Italian Peninsula: implications for taxonomy and biochronology |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12549-023-00583-1 |journal=Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=191–215 |doi=10.1007/s12549-023-00583-1 |issn=1867-1594|doi-access=free |hdl=11573/1706615 |hdl-access=free }} Unlike earlier species of Dama and like living fallow deer, the antlers are palmate (flattened), with the palmation being narrower than in living European fallow deer (Dama dama).{{Cite journal |last=Breda |first=Marzia |last2=Lister |first2=Adrian M. |date=June 2013 |title=Dama roberti, a new species of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and the origins of modern fallow deer |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379113000449 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=69 |pages=155–167 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.029}}
Distribution
Specimens are known from Western Europe, including Italy, Britain, France and Spain.{{Cite journal |last=Breda |first=Marzia |last2=Lister |first2=Adrian M. |date=June 2013 |title=Dama roberti, a new species of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and the origins of modern fallow deer |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379113000449 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=69 |pages=155–167 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.029}}
Palaeoecology
Dental wear analysis of remains from the site of Fontana Aruccio in Italy suggests that D. clactoniana was primarily a browser.{{Cite journal |last=Strani |first=Flavia |last2=DeMiguel |first2=Daniel |last3=Bona |first3=Fabio |last4=Sardella |first4=Raffaele |last5=Biddittu |first5=Italo |last6=Bruni |first6=Luciano |last7=De Castro |first7=Adelaide |last8=Guadagnoli |first8=Francesco |last9=Bellucci |first9=Luca |date=1 May 2015 |title=Ungulate dietary adaptations and palaeoecology of the Middle Pleistocene site of Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni, Central Italy) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018217311537 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=496 |pages=238–247 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.041 |access-date=10 September 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}
Relationship with humans
Evidence has been found for the butchery Dama clactoniana during the Clactonian period (~424-415,000 years ago) in Britain by Homo heidelbergensis.{{Citation |last=McNabb |first=John |title=Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian |date=2020 |work=Culture History and Convergent Evolution |pages=29–53 |editor-last=Groucutt |editor-first=Huw S. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3 |access-date=2024-07-28 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3 |isbn=978-3-030-46125-6}}
References
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Category:Fossil taxa described in 1868
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