Brocket deer
| Brocket deer | |
|---|---|
-right_01.JPG) |
|
| Gray brocket (M. gouazoubira) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
| Genus: |
Mazama Rafinesque, 1817 |
| Species | |
|
M. americana |
|
M. americana
M. bororo
M. bricenii
M. chunyi
M. gouazoubira
M. nana
M. nemorivaga
M. pandora
M. rufina
M. temama
M. tienhoveni
Brockets or brocket deer are the species of deer in the genus Mazama. They are medium to small in size, and are found in the Yucatán Peninsula, Central and South America, and the island of Trinidad. Most species are primarily found in forests. They are superficially similar to the African duikers and the Asian muntjacs, but unrelated. There are about ten species of brocket deer.
The genus name Mazama is derived from Nahuatl mazame, the plural of mazatl "deer".
The taxonomy among Mazama species has changed significantly in the last decades, and as recently as 1999 some authorities only recognized four species. These four "species", M. americana, M. gouazoubira, M. rufina and M. chunnyi included several distinct populations which subsequently were elevated to species status, resulting in a total of 9 different species being recognized in Mammal Species of the World in 2005. A 10th species, M. nemorivaga, has traditionally been included in M. gouazoubira, but this was shown to be mistaken in 2000.M. nemorivaga was not recognized as a separate species in Mammal Species of the World, but this was apparently an error. Yet another species, the fair brocket (M. tienhoveni) has recently been described from the lower Amazon basin. What may be an undescribed small species of brocket with a reddish pelage and blackish legs has been photographed in the lowlands of Manú National Park in Peru, and based on sight records may also occur in north-western Bolivia.
Molecular dating suggests that the family Cervidae originated and radiated in central Asia during the Late Miocene, and that Odocoileini dispersed to North America during the Miocene/Pliocene boundary, and underwent an adaptive radiation in South America after their Pliocene dispersal across the Isthmus of Panama. According to the systematic relationships and evolutionary history of Neotropical deer, at least eight ancestral forms of deer invaded South America during the late Pliocene (2.5–3 MYA), and members of the red brockets had an independent early explosive diversification soon after their ancestor arrived there, giving rise to a number of morphologically cryptic species. Deer endemic to the New World fall in two biogeographic lineages: the first one groups Odocoileus and Mazama americana is distributed in North, Central, and South America, whereas the second one is composed of South American species only and includes Mazama gouazoubira. This implies that the genus Mazama is not a valid taxon. Genetic analysis revealed high levels of molecular and cytogenetic divergence between groups of morphologically similar species of brockets (Mazama), and suggest a polyphyletic origin. In particular, Mazama americana showed a striking relationship with several sequences of Odocoileus in contrast to that expected, since this M. americana (now M. temama) haplotype, from a Mexican origin, was not associated with several Bolivian Mazama sequences analyzed. This could put forward that this genera is not monophyletic. On the other hand, these Bolivian Mazama formed a clade with Pudu puda and Ozotoceros bezoarticus. Likely, an Odocoileus virginianus sequence from the Central area of Colombia showed a more strong relationship with a North American O. heminonus sequence than with the other O. virginianus sequences of Colombian origin as well. This could be explained by various hypotheses. The first is the existence of common ancestral haplotypes between both species. Another is the reiterative hybridization among both Odocoileus species before the migration of O. virginianus from North America to South America.
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