Quaternaire, 3-4, 1990, 175-192

CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL

OF THE MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE DEER SPECIES

ELAPHOIDES KAHLKE

'CERVUS

Adrian LISTER*

ABSTRACT

RÉSUMÉ

RÉÉVALUATION CRITIQUE DU CERVIDÉ PLEISTOCENE MOYEN "CERVUS" ELAPHOIDES KAHLKE

1. Introduction

The deer species "Cervus" elaphoides was founded by Kahlke (1960) on the basis of fossils from the Mosbach Sands. Since then, deer remains from several other Pleistocene localities have been referred to this species, and some authors (e.g. Heintz and Poplin, 1974; Crégut, 1979) have regarded it as a valuable stratigraphie marker for the early Middle Pleistocene. The fossils in question are believed to

correspond to a species approximately the size of a modern European fallow deer, Dama dama (L.). Some authors refer to such deer species as "medium sized", but in this paper they will be termed "small sized" because the chief comparison will be with the larger red deer (Cervus elaphus L.).

A consideration of the validity or otherwise of this species must begin with an analysis of the type sample, from Mosbach. The fluviatile sand deposits of the River Rhine at Mosbach, Germany, have yielded one of the most extensive collections of early Middle