Dama clactoniana

Dama clactoniana; Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Cervidae
Genus:	Dama
Species:	D. clactoniana
Binomial name
	Dama clactoniana; Falconer in Murchison, 1868

Last updated August 02, 2025

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.^[1]

Description

While the size of the species is variable, recovered specimens of this species tend to be on larger than both living fallow deer species on average. Its fourth lower premolar is not molarized.^[2] Unlike species of Dama from more primitive lineages or earlier intervals of time, and like living fallow deer, D. clactoniana's antlers are palmate (flattened),^[1] with the palmation being narrower than what is seen in antlers of living European fallow deer (Dama dama).^[3]

Distribution

Specimens are known from Western Europe, including Italy,^[2] Britain,^[4] France and Spain.^[5]

Palaeoecology

Dental wear analysis of remains from the site of Fontana Aruccio in Italy suggests that D. clactoniana was primarily a browser.^[6]

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 .^[4]

References

1 2 van der Made, Jan; Rodríguez-Alba, Juan José; Martos, Juan Antonio; Gamarra, Jesús; Rubio-Jara, Susana; Panera, Joaquín; Yravedra, José (April 2023). "The fallow deer Dama celiae sp. nov. with two-pointed antlers from the Middle Pleistocene of Madrid, a contemporary of humans with Acheulean technology". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 15 (4). doi: 10.1007/s12520-023-01734-3 . hdl: 10261/307292 . ISSN 1866-9557.
1 2 Mecozzi, Beniamino; Sardella, Raffaele; Breda, Marzia (March 2024). "Late Early to late Middle Pleistocene medium-sized deer from the Italian Peninsula: implications for taxonomy and biochronology". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 104 (1): 191–215. doi: 10.1007/s12549-023-00583-1 . hdl: 11573/1706615 . ISSN 1867-1594.
↑ Breda, Marzia; Lister, Adrian M. (June 2013). "Dama roberti, a new species of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and the origins of modern fallow deer" . Quaternary Science Reviews. 69: 155–167. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.029.
1 2 McNabb, John (2020), Groucutt, Huw S. (ed.), "Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian" , Culture History and Convergent Evolution, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 29–53, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3, ISBN 978-3-030-46125-6 , retrieved 2024-07-28
↑ Breda, Marzia; Lister, Adrian M. (June 2013). "Dama roberti, a new species of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and the origins of modern fallow deer" . Quaternary Science Reviews. 69: 155–167. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.029.
↑ Strani, Flavia; DeMiguel, Daniel; Bona, Fabio; Sardella, Raffaele; Biddittu, Italo; Bruni, Luciano; De Castro, Adelaide; Guadagnoli, Francesco; Bellucci, Luca (1 May 2015). "Ungulate dietary adaptations and palaeoecology of the Middle Pleistocene site of Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni, Central Italy)" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 496: 238–247. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.041 . Retrieved 10 September 2024– via Elsevier Science Direct.

This prehistoric even-toed ungulate-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:0-1] 1 2 van der Made, Jan; Rodríguez-Alba, Juan José; Martos, Juan Antonio; Gamarra, Jesús; Rubio-Jara, Susana; Panera, Joaquín; Yravedra, José (April 2023). "The fallow deer Dama celiae sp. nov. with two-pointed antlers from the Middle Pleistocene of Madrid, a contemporary of humans with Acheulean technology". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 15 (4). doi: 10.1007/s12520-023-01734-3 . hdl: 10261/307292 . ISSN 1866-9557.

[:1-2] 1 2 Mecozzi, Beniamino; Sardella, Raffaele; Breda, Marzia (March 2024). "Late Early to late Middle Pleistocene medium-sized deer from the Italian Peninsula: implications for taxonomy and biochronology". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 104 (1): 191–215. doi: 10.1007/s12549-023-00583-1 . hdl: 11573/1706615 . ISSN 1867-1594.

[3] Breda, Marzia; Lister, Adrian M. (June 2013). "Dama roberti, a new species of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and the origins of modern fallow deer" . Quaternary Science Reviews. 69: 155–167. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.029.

[:02-4] 1 2 McNabb, John (2020), Groucutt, Huw S. (ed.), "Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian" , Culture History and Convergent Evolution, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 29–53, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46126-3_3, ISBN 978-3-030-46125-6 , retrieved 2024-07-28

[5] Breda, Marzia; Lister, Adrian M. (June 2013). "Dama roberti, a new species of deer from the early Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and the origins of modern fallow deer" . Quaternary Science Reviews. 69: 155–167. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.029.

[6] Strani, Flavia; DeMiguel, Daniel; Bona, Fabio; Sardella, Raffaele; Biddittu, Italo; Bruni, Luciano; De Castro, Adelaide; Guadagnoli, Francesco; Bellucci, Luca (1 May 2015). "Ungulate dietary adaptations and palaeoecology of the Middle Pleistocene site of Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni, Central Italy)" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 496: 238–247. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.041 . Retrieved 10 September 2024– via Elsevier Science Direct.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]