The Fossil Record of Continental Fossil Deer (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Cervidae) in Greece

Abstract

The paleontological research during the last 160 years in Greece has recovered continental deer fossils from at least 100 localities, which span geochronologically from the late Miocene to the end of the Pleistocene, while scanty dental remains date from the middle Miocene. The following species are documented: Procapreolus pentelici (late Miocene), Procapreolus cusanus, Croizetoceros ramosus, Metacervocerus rhenanus, Eucladoceros cf. ctenoides, Rucervus gigans, Praedama aff. savini, Dama vallonnetensis (late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene), Praemegaceros pliotarantoides, Praemegaceros verticornis, Alces latifrons, Megaloceros giganteus, Cervus elaphus, Dama dama, Capreolus capreolus, “Cervus” peloponnesiacus (Middle and Late Pleistocene), while several other samples are incomplete and not identifiable to the species level. Despite their comparatively scarce representation in the fossil faunas, the cervids became more common in time periods with cooler climate, like during the Late Pleistocene.