Studies on the parietal region of the cervid skull. III. On the occurrence of an interparietal in Cervus.

The occurrence of an os interparietal was studied in two transparent preparations of fetal red deer (Cervus elaphus) heads and in 14 dried skulls of fetal to early postnatal individuals from four Cervus species (C. elaphus, C. nippon, C. duvauceli and C. eldi). In 14 of the 16 specimens, an interparietal was present as either a paired or single bone. In only a neonate red deer and a 5-week-old sika deer this skull element was missing. We therefore conclude that an os interparietal, developing from paired centres of ossification, is normally present in Cervus species. This clearly distinguishes them from the fallow deer, where an interparietal is missing (Kierdorf and Kierdorf, 1992b). Our findings thus support the view that the fallow deer should be considered a distinct genus Dama instead of being included within Cervus.