Dama clactoniana

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

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, specimens tend to be on average larger than both living fallow deer species. The fourth lower premolar is not molarized.^[2] Unlike earlier species of Dama and like living fallow deer, the antlers are palmate,^[1] with the palmation being narrower than in living European fallow deer (Dama dama).^[3]

Distribution

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

Palaeoecology

Evidence from the site of Fontana Aruccio in Italy shows that D. clactoniana was primarily a browser.^[5]

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

^ ^a ^b 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.
^ ^a ^b 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. 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.
^ ^a ^b 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
^ 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.

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[:0-1] 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. 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] 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] 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.

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