Eucladoceros

Extinct genus of mammal

Eucladoceros (Greek for "well branched antler") is an extinct genus of large deer whose fossils have been discovered across Eurasia, from Europe to China, spanning from the Late Pliocene Early Pleistocene. It is noted for its unusual comb like or branching antlers.

Species of Eucladoceros were large sized deer. European species are suggested to have reached a body mass of , while East Asian E. boulei is suggested to have reached body masses of E. giulii has been estimated to have had a shoulder height of while E. senezensis has an estimated shoulder height of Species of Eucladoceros are noted for their branching antlers, with a large number of tines projecting from the front part of the main antler beam. The teeth of Eucladoceros species are similar in some aspects to those of the genus Cervus, but lack certain derived characters typical of the teeth of that genus.

The first find (E. dicranios) was in 1841 by Florentine naturalist Filippo Nesti, director of the "Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze" ("Museum of Natural History of Florence"). The earliest species of Eucladoceros was described from the Early Pliocene of China. The most abundant fossil remains of Eucladoceros have come from the Early Pleistocene of Europe and China. The systematics of European forms is confused and up to twelve poorly defined species are reported. The majority of those species names are synonymous, and at present only two or three good species are recognized: E. dicranios from England, Italy and Azov Sea Area in South Russia; E. ctenoides from Greece, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and England; and E. teguliensis (a senior synonym of E. senezensis) from France, the Netherlands, and Britain. The latter species is regarded by some authors as a subspecies of E. ctenoides, since there are some finds (for instance, from Ceyssaguet, France) that show a transitional character between E. ctenoides and E. teguliensis. Some poor remains of Eucladoceros are found also in Tajikistan, Pakistan, and India.

Analysis of the limbs of Eucladoceros suggest that they are most similar to living deer that occupy open habitats. Dental microwear analysis of Eucladoceros ctenoides suggests that its diet was largely plastic and widely varied according to local conditions.

The genus was formally described by Hugh Falconer in 1868. Eucladoceros is widely agreed to a be member of the tribe Cervini, though its placement within this group has been debated. A 2017 study analysing the bony labyrinth suggested that Eucladoceros was most closely related to the genera Rusa and Cervus.