Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)

Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780) View in CoL

Material examined.

Costa Rica • Puntarenas Province, Karen Mogensen Wildlife Refuge ; 09°52'13"N, 085°03'27"W; 296 m alt.; 18.01.2018; direct observation GoogleMaps .

Identification.

Large-sized deer. The upperparts are pale to orange, the face shows conspicuous white and black markings. Long neck, head elongated, legs thin and strong. It usually carries its head high while moving. Only males have antlers, which are branched and longer than those of the other deer that occurs in Costa Rica, i. e., the brocket deer Mazama americana Erxleben, 1777 ( Wainwright 2007). In the Wildlife Refuge this species is recorded in every habitat type in all seasons. A recent study addressed the phylogeny of all New World deers (Odocoileini) and found that O. virginianus should be a paraphyletic taxon ( Gutiérrez et al. 2017).