Capreolus capreolus Gray 1821

• Main Authors: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2011
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Artiodactyla; Cervidae; Capreolus; Capreolus capreolus; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6514543; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A087C4FFD1FFD1FF5FFA77E24AF9CE

32. Western Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus French: Chevreuil d'Europe / German: Reh / Spanish: Corzo Other common names: European Roe Deer Taxonomy. Cervus capreolus Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden. The Western Roe Deeris recorded in Europe from the Middle Pleistocene, about 600,000 years ago. It was present on most of the continent during Interglacial and mild stages of glacial periods. During the last glacial maximum, 21-15,000 years ago, roe deer retreated to a few ice-free refugia in the Mediterranean region and in South-eastern Europe. About 9600 years ago, the deer began to recolonize Western, Central, and Northern Europe, possibly from one eastern glacial refugium. Due to substantial morphological homogeneity, most recent authorities consider the species as monotypic. Distribution. Most of Europe (excluding Iceland, Ireland, and Mediterranean Is), Caucasus, and Near East. Descriptive notes. Head-body 107-127 cm,tail 1.5-3 cm, shoulder height 65-84 cm; postrutting weight 20-30 kg for males (adult bucks) and 17-29 kg for females (adult does). Bucks are on average 5-10% heavier than does. The heaviest animals are found in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, the smallest in Mediterranean habitats of Spain and Italy and in cold alpine valleys. It is an elegant small deer with long neck, relatively short trunk, and rump higher than withers. The area around the muzzle is black, the lips and chin are white. The winter coat is grayish. Bucks have a large, white, kidney-shaped rump patch; in does the rump patch is heart-shaped and there is a prominent tuft of hairs close to the vulva. The summer coatis reddish, without a clear rump patch. The faces of bucks have a variable admixture of colors, from dark brown to grayish, sometimes with a whitish area toward the muzzle. The molt to summer coat occurs in April-June, and to winter coat in September—October. Newborn fawns have a brown coat flecked with black and with white spots on sides and back; the spots start to fade at six weeks and disappear by about five months. ...