Axis (genus)

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Axis
Chital herd.jpg
Axis axis
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Cervinae
Tribe: Cervini
Genus: Axis
Smith, 1827
Type species
Cervus axis
Erxleben, 1777
Species

See text

Axis is a genus of deer occurring in South and Southeast Asia. As presently defined by most authorities, four species are placed in the genus. Three of the four species are called hog deer. The genus name is a word mentioned in Pliny the Elder's Natural History. [1]

Species

Following the third edition of Mammal Species of the World from 2005, which is also followed by the American Society of Mammalogists, four species are placed in Axis. [2] [3] These four species are divided into two subgenera; Axis containing the chital, and Hyelaphus containing the 3 others. [2]

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Axis axis, spotted deer.jpg Axis axis Chital, spotted deer, or axis deerIndian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka
Axis calamianensis.jpg Axis calamianensis Calamian deerCalamian Islands in Palawan, the Philippines
Male and young Bawean deer (Axis kuhli) is an endemic fauna on Bawean Island. 02.jpg Axis kuhlii Bawean deer or Kuhl's deerBawean Island in Indonesia
Hog deer - 1.jpg Axis porcinus Hog deernorthern plains of Indian subcontinent to Myanmar, parts of Indochina

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References

  1. Pliny the Elder. "Natural History". Loeb Classical Library. Retrieved 30 September 2022. in India [...] a wild animal, named axis, with the hide of a fawn but with more spots and whiter ones
  2. 1 2 Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  3. Mammal Diversity Database (2021-08-10), Mammal Diversity Database, Zenodo, retrieved 2021-08-28