Bretzia

Bretzia is an extinct genus of deer that was endemic to North America. Two species have been described.

Bretzia
Temporal range: Early Pliocene-Holocene
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: †Bretzia
Fry and Gustafson, 1974[1]
Species

†Bretzia nebrascensis Gunnell and Foral, 1994
†Bretzia pseudalces Fry and Gustafson, 1974

Taxonomy and evolution

The genus Bretzia was named in 1974 by paleontologist Eric Paul Gustafson and his colleague Willis Fry. It was named after geologist J. Harlan Bretz. Bretzia pseudalces is notable for being one of the first deer to live in North America, and one of the earliest ancestors to all New World Deer.[2] Fossils of sister species Bretzia nebrascensis has been found in Nebraska and South Dakota. This species survived until the very end of the Pleistocene or Early Holocene (around 10,000 BP).[3]

References
  1. "Bretzia". Fossilworks.
  2. "Paleo Profile: The False Moose". Science. 2015-10-12. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  3. Gunnell, Gregg F.; Foral, Alan (1994). "New Species of Bretzia (Cervidae; Artiodactyla) from the Latest Pleistocene or Earliest Holocene of Nebraska and South Dakota". Journal of Mammalogy. 75 (2): 378–381. doi:10.2307/1382556. ISSN 0022-2372. JSTOR 1382556.


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