Candiacervus

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Candiacervus Fossil range: Pleistocene
Athene cretensis and Candiacervus ropalophorus
Conservation status
Prehistoric
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Cervidae Genus: Candiacervus
Species
C. ropalphorus C. major C. pygadiensìs C. cretensis

Candiacervus was a genus of deer native to Pleistocene Crete. Their most notable feature, besides their peculiar, spatula-shaped antlers, was their small stature: the smallest species, C. ropalophorus, was fourteen inches tall when fully grown, 30 inches when the males had antlers. As such, the genus is considered to be a textbook example of insular dwarfism.

Ironically, they were closely related to the Irish Elk, with a few experts regarding Candiacervus as a subgenus of Megaloceros.

[edit] External links

• Norntates [1]
• JSTOR: "Mammals, Vegetation and the Initial Human Settlement of the Mediterranean Islands: A Palaeoecological Approach" [2]