Thanks jbnbsn99, how long has it been considered an invalid genus, and also would other cervinae genuses such as Dama, Hyelaphus, Axis, Rucervus, Elaphurus and Panolia be considered invalid, because i hear for example because of genetic testing they think Pere davids deer belong in Cervus instead of Elaphurus
Since 2004 (Pitra et al). Rusa was found to be well nested within the Cervus clade. It was one of three branches: Red Deer, Wapiti/Sika, and Rusa. All other genera are considered valid. Thee 2004 paper is considered the key study in Old World deer taxonomy. That said, some of their dates of splitting were discovered to be too young, and thus the branches in the clades were pushed back a few million years (fossil evidence suggested that the molecular clock they used was not quite accurate). It was also from this paper that Panolia was reconsidered as being a valid genus.
Since 2004 (Pitra et al). Rusa was found to be well nested within the Cervus clade. It was one of three branches: Red Deer, Wapiti/Sika, and Rusa. All other genera are considered valid. Thee 2004 paper is considered the key study in Old World deer taxonomy. That said, some of their dates of splitting were discovered to be too young, and thus the branches in the clades were pushed back a few million years (fossil evidence suggested that the molecular clock they used was not quite accurate). It was also from this paper that Panolia was reconsidered as being a valid genus.
I heard about that 2004 study it is quite an interesting and informative study, that is the study that discovered that Red deer (Cervus elaphus) and Elk or Wapiti (Cervus canadiensis), In fact i was looking through a book called Wild in the City Best of Zoonooz and it showed a picture of an Altai wapiti and listed it as (Cervus elaphus sibiricus) when really the scientific name is (Cervus canadiensis sibiricus) but then again the book was written in the 1980s so how could i call that not accurate, anyways thanks for talking about Old world deer taxonomy with me, I find it very very interesting, I am such a taxonomy nerd !!!
That would probably be Jim Dolan's article from 1988 on "Red" Deer. It's a well-known and still cited summary of the species group. By the way, Altai Wapiti are now Cervus canadiensis canadiensis, no discernible difference between them and NA wapiti (at least as far as the current evidence goes).
