1. Department of Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
2. Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
3. Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
4. Department of Zoology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
5. †Present addresses: MRC Clinical Trials Unit, 222 Euston Road, London NW1 2DA, UK (D.A.W.N.); Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Ontario L8S 4L9, Canada (M.B.)

Correspondence to: I. Barnes¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to I.B. (Email: I.Barnes@ucl.ac.uk). Sequences are deposited in GenBank under accession numbers AM072730–AM072749. Sequences are deposited in GenBank under accession numbers AM072730-AM072749.

Abstract

The giant deer, or 'Irish elk', has featured extensively in debates on adaptation, sexual selection, and extinction. Its huge antlers—the largest of any deer species, living or extinct—formed a focus of much past work^{1, 2, 3, 4}. Yet the phylogenetic position of the giant deer has remained an enigma. On the basis of its flattened antlers, the species was previously regarded as closely related to the living fallow deer^{5, 6, 7}. Recent morphological studies⁸, however, have challenged that view and placed the giant deer closer to the living red deer or wapiti. Here we present a new phylogenetic analysis encompassing morphological and DNA sequence evidence, and find that both sets of data independently support a sister-group relationship of giant and fallow deer. Our results include the successful extraction and sequencing of DNA from this extinct species, and highlight the value of a joint molecular and morphological approach.

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