Dama clactoniana

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]

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

Description

While the size of the species is variable, recovered specimens of this species tend to be 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]