Andinocervus rufinus (Pucheran, 1851:561), 2025

Andinocervus rufinus (Pucheran, 1851:561) , comb. nov.

Synonyms:

Cervus rufinus Pucheran, 1851:561 . Type locality “la vallée de Lloa, sur le versant occidental de la Cordillière du Pichincha;” Mazama bricenii Thomas, 1908:349 View in CoL : Type locality “ Paramo de la culata, Merida, Venezuela. Altitude 3000 m.”

Mazama rufinus : Thomas, 1908:349. Name combination.

See Hershkovitz (1982) and Jasper et al. (2022) for a complete list of synonyms.

Type locality: “la vallée de Lloa, sur le versant occidental de la Cordillière du Pichincha;” Ecuador.

Holotype: Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle ( MNHN)—MNHN-ZM-MO-1851-61, by monotypy.

Diagnosis: As for the genus.

Common names: dwarf red brocket; little red brocket (English). Venado de páramo, venado chonta, soche de páramo (Spanish).

Description: A small brocket (head and body length, 85–90 cm; height at shoulders, 45 cm; weight, 10–15 kg); pelage reddish brown and becomes blackish on the legs, reaching down to the hoofs. The tail is short with white hairs in the ventral side. Approximately ¾ of the hairs exhibit a cream-gray band and the tips are reddish. Dorsal hairs are long (~ 45 mm). Neck shorter than the head´s length. Fur over the head is shorter (~ 20 mm) than in the back. The hairs of the nape are not reversed. It has four inguinal teats. Males with small tuffs around the antlers. Approximately six superciliary (up to 35 mm in length), seven mystical, and more than 15 interramal vibrissae. Andinocervus rufinus is the second smallest deer species in the Andean region of Colombia and Ecuador (greatest length of the skull: 170–172 mm), and the smallest brocket in Venezuela. Cranially, it is smaller than other sympatric or allopatric species, and exhibits round and excavated preorbital fossa ( Table 2).

Comparisons: Andinocervus rufinus is similar in size to Mazama nanus and the gray brockets, i.e., Passalites nemorivagus , Subulo gouazoubira , but can be easily differentiated by a more excavated lacrimal fossae and smaller vacuities. Externally, juveniles of A. rufinus are similar to adults of P. mephistophiles ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 ), but they can be differentiated by the reduced tail of the latter. Adults of both species are easily differentiated based on the larger external and cranial size and the lack of vestigial canines of the A. rufinus . Other small deer such as Pudu puda , and both Pudella carlae and P. mephistophiles are smaller in external and cranial measurements and exhibit upper vestigial canines. Mazama temama lacks the excavated preorbital fossa, does not have the black mask and the general coloration is lighter. “ Mazama ” chunyi is similar in size than A. rufinus , but lacks the dark brown face.