Axis (genus)

Axis is a genus of deer occurring in South and Southeast Asia. As presently defined by most authorities, four species are placed in the genus. Three of the four species are called hog deer. The genus name is a word mentioned in Pliny the Elder's Natural History.[1]

Axis
Axis axis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Cervinae
Tribe: Cervini
Genus: Axis
Smith, 1827
Type species
Cervus axis
Erxleben, 1777
Species

See text

Species

Following the third edition of Mammal Species of the World from 2005, which is also followed by the American Society of Mammalogists, four species are placed in Axis.[2][3] These four species are divided into two subgenera; Axis containing the chital, and Hyelaphus containing the 3 others.[2]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Axis axis Chital, spotted deer, or axis deer Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka
Axis calamianensis Calamian deer Calamian Islands in Palawan, the Philippines
Axis kuhlii Bawean deer or Kuhl's deer Bawean Island in Indonesia
Axis porcinus Hog deer northern plains of Indian subcontinent to Myanmar, parts of Indochina

References
  1. Pliny the Elder. "Natural History". Loeb Classical Library. Retrieved 30 September 2022. in India [...] a wild animal, named axis, with the hide of a fawn but with more spots and whiter ones
  2. Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. Mammal Diversity Database (2021-08-10), Mammal Diversity Database, Zenodo, retrieved 2021-08-28
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