The Cervinae or the Old World deer, are a subfamilyofdeer. Alternatively, they are known as the plesiometacarpal deer, due to having lost the parts of the second and fifth metacarpal bones closest to the foot (though retaining the parts away from the foot), distinct from the telemetacarpal deer of the Capreolinae (which have instead retained these parts of those metacarpals, while losing the parts away from the foot instead).[1]
Cervinae is suggested to have split from Capreolinae at least 13.8 million years ago based on the first appearance of Euprox, suggested to be a stem-group cervine in Europe at this time.[9] Modern Cervinae first appeared during the Late Miocene in Eastern Asia, arriving in the Indian subcontinent and Europe during the Early Pilocene.[1] The ancestor of Cervinae probably had a bifurcated antlers similar to muntjacs, with the complex antlers of Cervini evolving independently from those of Capreolinae.[10] Cervinae radiated during the Early Pleistocene, becoming the dominant group of deer across Eurasia.[1]
^Randi, E.; Mucci, N.; et al. (February 2001). "A mitochondrial DNA control region phylogeny of the Cervinae: speciation in Cervus and implications for conservation". Animal Conservation. 4 (1): 1–11. Bibcode:2001AnCon...4....1R. doi:10.1017/S1367943001001019. S2CID86572236.
^Pitraa, C.; Fickel, J.; et al. (December 2004). "Evolution and phylogeny of old world deer". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 33 (3): 880–895. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.07.013. PMID15522810.
^Duarte, J.M.B.; González, S.; Maldonado, J.E. (October 2008). "The surprising evolutionary history of South American deer". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 49 (1): 17–22. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.07.009. PMID18675919.
