A new deer from the lower Turolian of Spain

Abstract

A new genus and species of deer, Lucentia iberica, is described from the lower Turolian (MN 11) locality of Crevillente 2 (Alicante province, Spain). Eostyloceros pierensis Thomas, 1951 from Piera (Barcelona province) is also included in the new genus. The two-tined Lucentia is not a representative of Muntiacinae. From the emplacement on the cranial cavity and moderate backward inclination of the pedicles, and from the monopodial construction of the antlers, Lucentia is probably the sister group of the clade Cervinae + Odocoileinae. The hypothesis that Lucentia is most closely related to Cervinae is poorly supported by dental features. The Cervinae-Odocoileinae split must have occurred during the late Miocene and it being later, during the Pliocene, when the different lineages acquired the lateral metacarpal reduction, either plesiometacarpal or telemetacarpal states.