Giant muntjac

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Giant muntjac
Systematics
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Deer (Cervidae)
Subfamily : Cervinae
Tribe : Muntjak deer (Muntiacini)
Genre : Muntjaks ( Muntiacus )
Type : Giant muntjac
Scientific name
Muntiacus vuquangensis
( Tuoc , Dung , Dawson , Arctander & MacKinnon , 1994)

The giant muntjac ( Muntiacus vuquangensis ) is a species of deer from the genus of muntjacs ( Muntiacus ). It is the largest representative of the muntjaks, which is mainly characterized by its large and characteristically curved antlers. The species is endemic in Southeast Asia in the Annamite Mountains . The animals inhabit wooded landscapes at medium altitudes; little is known about their way of life. The scientific description of the giant muntjac was based on hunting trophies from Vietnam in 1994 . The stock is considered to be threatened with extinction.

features

Habitus

The Riesenmuntjak is the largest species of muntjac ( Muntiacus ). The head-trunk length of a female animal examined was 113 cm plus a 17 cm long tail. It had a shoulder height of 67 cm and weighed 34 kg; so it was about three times as heavy as a Chinese muntjac ( Muntiacus reevesi ) or 25% heavier than a North Indian muntjac ( Muntiacus vaginalis ). Some representatives of the Indian muntjak ( Muntiacus muntjak ) from the Sunda Islands reach the dimensions of the giant muntjak. Outwardly, the species resembles other representatives of the muntjaks. The back fur is yellowish brown to dark reddish brown in color. Sometimes there is a slight mottling caused by hair with black tips and a light band underneath. At the nape of the neck, a dark band sometimes begins, which stretches as an eel line over the back to the tail. Unlike the narrow tail of other muntjacs, that of the giant muntjak is short and triangular in shape. The top is black, the bottom is white. The latter feature is noticeable when an animal raises its tail. The lower leg sections are dark gray, which can turn black on the front legs. Whitish to reddish-brown spots appear above the hooves, male individuals also have white spots on the forefoot joint, which are not found in other types of muntja. The belly and the inside of the legs are almost white. The rear foot length is 32 cm.

The males' antlers are simply built and sit on distinctive rose bushes that rise above the forehead as bulbous elevations. On the inside of the bulges, a dark strip stretches from the large pre-eye gland to the base of the antlers. In females these ridges, like the stripes, are only weakly developed. Instead, a tuft of hair sometimes appears on the forehead. The face is gray to black in color, the chin stands out from it with its whitish color. The insides of the ears are also colored white, and an additional tuft of white hair appears at the base of the ear. The ear length is around 12 cm. The rose bushes of the antlers are short and thick, their length varies between 4.9 and 6.7 cm, the basal circumference from 8.5 to 9.2 cm. In contrast, those of the North Indian muntjak are long and slender. The antlers themselves are unbranched , with the exception of the eye-shoot . The eye shoot is well developed with an average length of 8 cm. The bar, however, is 17 to 28.5 cm long, which is the largest dimension among the muntjaks. It runs diagonally upwards and outwards and curves inwards at the tip, the tips are about 15 cm apart. The shoot largely follows this course. In other muntjaks with longer antlers, this is oriented more inward and sometimes abruptly downward at the tip.

Skull and dentition features

Skull of the giant muntjac in the Wiesbaden Museum

The skull of a female animal was 21.9 cm in length and 6.3 cm in width at the skull. The occipital height was 3.2 cm, making the posterior skull comparatively low. The facial area of ​​the skull is more extensive than in comparison with the North Indian muntjac. In contrast to the North Indian muntjac, the middle jawbone of the giant muntjac does not point forward. In the case of the giant muntjak, the nasal bone in turn pushes itself into the frontal bone with a narrow middle extension , which is not the case with the North Indian muntjak. In the latter, however, lateral extensions are formed. The temporal lines of the parietal bones extend further back in the North Indian muntjac than in the giant muntjac. As with all muntjaks, the giant muntjak also has a gender dimorphism with regard to the upper canine teeth . The males are clearly enlarged and curved like a dagger, they are up to 3.4 cm long here. In females they have a thin, pen-like shape and only protrude about 1 cm. The molars from the second premolar to the last molar extend from 6.6 to 7.4 cm in the upper dentition and from 6.2 to 6.8 cm in the lower dentition.

distribution and habitat

The distribution area in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

The Riesenmuntjak in Southeast Asia in Annamitengebirge and on adjacent hills endemic . Its occurrence is limited to Vietnam and Laos , but the species may also be present in eastern Cambodia . A large part of the references to the giant muntjac, however, go back to trophies of local hunters. Several locations where the animals were observed are distributed over the central areas of the Annamite Mountains. The total distribution area extends over a length of around 450 km. The northern border seems to be in Vietnam in the province of Nghệ An , where the species is documented in the Pu Mat National Park . On the Laotian side, this corresponds to the southern parts of the Bolikhamsai province , but an occurrence in the further north of Xieng Khouang province cannot be ruled out, which is still largely unexplored. There are hardly any studies on the western and southern borders, but there are historical reports of a large muntjakart from the Vietnamese province of Lâm Đồng from the beginning of the 20th century. The habitat consists of different landscapes with evergreen to sometimes evergreen forests. The species prefers primary forests, it may also use secondary forests, but so far the data is too thin. As a rule, the animals stay at altitudes below 1000 m, observations range from 520 to 1050 m. The giant muntjac appears sympathetically with the North Indian muntjac . In 1998 the Annam muntjac ( Muntiacus truongsonensis ) was described from the central area of ​​the Annamite Mountains .

Way of life

The way of life of the giant muntjak is almost unknown. Presumably, like other muntjacs, the animals live diurnally, as indicated by individual observations, and feed on soft vegetable foods such as leaves and fruits . Adults are most likely solitary animals. One female examined carried a fetus weighing 165 g. According to observations, dams usually appear with individual young animals.

Systematics

Internal systematics of the Muntjak deer according to Zurano et al. 2019
  Muntiacini  
  Elaphodus  

 Elaphodus cephalophus


  Muntiacus  


 Muntiacus reevesi


   

 Muntiacus vuquangensis


   

 Muntiacus rooseveltorum


   

 Muntiacus truongsonensis


   

 Muntiacus putaoensis






   

 Muntiacus atherodes


   


 Muntiacus muntjac


   

 Muntiacus vaginalis



   

 Muntiacus feae


   

 Muntiacus crinifrons


   

 Muntiacus gongshanensis








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The Riesenmuntjak is a kind from the genus of the barking ( Muntiacus ) within the family of deer (Cervidae). The Muntjaks include within the deer to the subfamily of Cervinae and tribes of muntiacini (Muntiacini) which additionally the tufted deer ( Elaphodus contains). The Muntjak deer form the sister taxon to the real deer (Cervini). Typical features of the muntjacs can be found in their simple antlers and the enlarged canines of males. All known representatives represent forest dwellers. The relationships within the muntjaks have not yet been clearly clarified, as has the number of species. In a revision of the ungulates from 2011, Colin P. Groves and Peter Grubb relegated the giant muntjac to a relational group that has not yet been specifically named together with the Annam muntjac ( Muntiacus truongsonensis ), the Vietnam muntjac ( Muntiacus puhoatensis ), the Burma muntjac ( Muntiacus putaoensis ) and the Roosevelt muntjac ( Muntiacus rooseveltorum ), which unites the animals of the Southeast Asian mainland. This is supported by the Muntiacus muntjak -, the Muntiacus reevesi - and the Muntiacus crinifrons group. The distinction was mostly made on an anatomical basis , but also partly on a genetic basis. In contrast, the first molecular genetic studies from 1996 revealed only a small genetic gap between the giant muntjac and the North Indian muntjak ( Muntiacus vaginalis ) (at that time still within the Indian muntjak ( Muntiacus muntjak ), but this was split into two in 2003 by Groves and in 2011 split into an additional third type, which can also be genetically traced to a certain extent). The investigation was based on relatively little material. More comprehensive recent genetic studies divide the genus of muntjacs into two clades . One is formed from the giant muntjac together with the Chinese muntjac ( Muntiacus reevesi ), the Roosevelt muntjac, the Annam muntjac and the Burma muntjac. The second consists of the Indian muntjac, the tenasserim muntjac ( Muntiacus feae ), the Borneo muntjac ( Muntiacus atherodes ) and the black muntjac ( Muntiacus crinifrons ). As a result, the giant muntjac is clearly closer to the small muntjacs of Southeast Asia than to the larger representatives of the rest of the distribution area.

The giant muntjac was first scientifically described in 1994 by Do Tuoc and research colleagues . The introduction took place on the basis of hunting trophies from the Vũ Quang National Park in Vietnam and under the scientific name Megamuntiacus vuquangensis , with which the scientists referred the species to a new genus of Muntjak deer. Two publications have been published, one in Vietnamese and the other in English. Two years later, George Schaller and Elisabeth Vrba put the species in the genus Muntiacus based on molecular genetic data and morphological features . Their publication also contained the first more extensive description of the giant muntjak. Later and in-depth analysis supported this view of systematic allocation.

An approximately 11,000 year old lower jaw from Muntiacus gigas from Tràng An, Vietnam

While the independence of the giant muntjac is hardly disputed from a biological point of view, doubts arose in 2016 about the validity of the taxon . In a study, Samuel T. Turvey and co-authors compared the giant muntjac with fossil specimens of the extinct species Muntiacus gigas from eastern China . This was introduced in 1990 with the help of numerous pieces of antler, but also individual remains of teeth from the Neolithic settlement of Hemudu in the Yangtze River Delta ; the age of the site dates from 7000 to 6000 years ago. Evidence of Muntiacus gigas now comes from both the eastern and central areas of China, the youngest of which are around 1800 years old. In 2019, a lower jaw find from the Tràng An area in the Red River Delta in Vietnam that is more than 11,000 years old was published. Discovered in archaeological investigations from 2007 to 2010, it significantly expands the former occurrence of Muntiacus gigas and brings its limits close to those of today's giant muntjac. The authors of the 2016 study could not find any significant differences in the structure of the antlers between the two taxa . In their opinion, the giant muntjac of the mountain regions of Laos and Vietnam is a remnant population of Muntiacus gigas, which used to be a much larger area of ​​distribution. The discovery from Vietnam gave the discussion about the synonymity of the two species a new impetus.

Threat and protection

The existence of the giant muntjac is endangered by habitat destruction as a result of deforestation and slash- and- burn as well as intensive hunting. The IUCN therefore classifies the species as “ critically endangered ” because of its small distribution area and the low and declining population density .

literature

  • Stefano Mattioli: Family Cervidae (Deer). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hoofed Mammals. Lynx Edicions, 2011, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 410
  • George B. Schaller and Elisabeth S. Vrba: Description of the Giant Muntjac (Megamuntiacus vuquangensis) in Laos. Journal of Mammalogy 77 (3), 1996, pp. 675-683 ( [4] )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f George B. Schaller and Elisabeth S. Vrba: Description of the Giant Muntjac (Megamuntiacus vuquangensis) in Laos. Journal of Mammalogy 77 (3), 1996, pp. 675-683 ( [1] )
  2. ↑ a b c d e Stefano Mattioli: Family Cervidae (Deer). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hoofed Mammals. Lynx Edicions, 2011, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 410
  3. ↑ a b J. W. Duckworth: A survey of large mammals in the central Annamite mountains of Laos. Zeitschrift für Mammaliankunde 63, 1998, pp. 239-250
  4. ↑ RJ Timmins, TD Evans, Khamkhoun Khounboline and Chainoi Sisomphone: Status and conservation of the giant muntjac Megamuntiacus vuquangensis, and notes on other muntjac species in Laos. Oryx 32 (1), 1998, pp. 59-67
  5. ↑ a b T.D. Evans, JW Duckworth and RJ Timmins: Field observations of larger mammals in Laos, 1994-1995. Mammalia 64 (1), 2000, pp. 55-100
  6. ↑ K. Bauer: Historic record and range extension for Giant Muntjac, Muntiacus vuquangensis (Cervidae). Mammalia 61 (2), 1997, pp. 265-267
  7. ^ A b R. J. Timmins, JW Duckworth, W. Robichaud, B. Long, TNE Gray and A. Tilker: Muntiacus vuquangensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. e.T44703A22153828 ( [2] ); last accessed on February 23, 2019
  8. ↑ PM Giao, D. Tuoc, VV Dung, ED Wikramanayake, G. Amato, P. Arctander and JR MacKinnon: Description of Muntiacus truongsonensis, a new species of muntjac (Artiodactyla: Muntiacidae) from Central Vietnam, and implications for conservation. Animal Conservation 1 (1), 1998, pp. 61-68
  9. ↑ Juan P. Zurano, Felipe M. Magalhães, Ana E. Asato, Gabriel Silva, Claudio J. Bidau, Daniel O. Mesquita and Gabriel C. Costa: Cetartiodactyla: Updating a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 133, 2019, pp. 256-262, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2018.12.015
  10. ^ A b Colin Peter Groves and Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (pp. 71-107)
  11. ^ Colin Peter Groves: Taxonomy of ungulates of the Indian subcontinent. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 100 (2-3), 2003, pp. 341-361
  12. ↑ Renata F. Martins, Jörns Fickel, Minh Le, Thanh van Nguyen, Ha M. Nguyen, Robert Timmins, Han Ming Gan, Jeffrine J. Rovie-Ryan, Dorina Lenz, Daniel W. Förster and Andreas Wilting: Phylogeography of red muntjacs reveals three distinct mitochondrial lineages. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17, 2017, p. 34, doi: 10.1186 / s12862-017-0888-0
  13. ^ A b George Amato, Mary G. Egan and George B. Schaller: Mitochondrial DNA variation in muntjac: evidence for discovery, rediscovery, and phylogenetic relationships. In: Elisabeth S. Vrba and George B. Schaller (Eds.): Antelopes, deer, and relatives. Yale University Press, 2000, pp. 285-295
  14. ↑ Alexandre Hassanin, Frédéric Delsuc, Anne Ropiquet, Catrin Hammer, Bettine Jansen van Vuuren, Conrad Matthee, Manuel Ruiz-Garcia, François Catzeflis, Veronika Areskoug, Trung Thanh Nguyen and Arnaud Couloux: Pattern and timing of diversification of Cetartiodactalia, Lauriala (Mammia ), as revealed by a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial genomes. Comptes Rendus Palevol 335, 2012, pp. 32-50
  15. ↑ Nicola S. Heckeberg, Dirk Erpenbeck, Gert Wörheide and Gertrud E. Rössner: Systematic relationships of five newly sequenced cervid species. PeerJ 4, 2016, p. E2307, doi: 10.7717 / peerj.2307
  16. ^ D. Tuoc, VV Dung, S. Dawson, P. Arctander and J. MacKinnon: Introduction of a new large mammal species in Vietnam. Science and Technology News, Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (Hanoi), 1994, pp. 4-13 (in Vietnamese); D. Tuoc, VV Dung, S. Dawson, P. Arctander and J. MacKinnon: Diagnosis of a new deer from Vietnam. Vietnamese Forest Inventory and Planning Institute Occasional paper 3, 1994, pp. 1–12 (in English)
  17. ^ A b C. M. Stimpson, B. Utting, S. O'Donnell, NTM Huong, T. Kahlert, BV Manh, PS Khanh and RJ Rabett: An 11,000-year-old giant muntjac subfossil from Northern Vietnam: implications for past and present populations. Royal Society open science 6, 2019, p. 181461, doi: 10.1098 / rsos.181461
  18. ↑ Samuel T. Turvey, James Hansford, Selina Brace, Victoria Mullin, Shengxiao Gu and Guoping Sun: Holocene range collapse of giant muntjacs and pseudo-endemism in the Annamite large mammal fauna. Journal of Biogeography 43 (11), 2016, pp. 2250–2260 ( [3] )

Web links

Commons : Giant Muntjac ( Muntiacus vuquangensis )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files