Cervus pachygenys Pomel, 1892 Megaceroides algericus is an extinct species of deer known from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene of North Africa.

A comprehensive description of the taxon by Roman Croitor published in 2016 suggested that it originated from Megaloceros mugharensis from the Middle Pleistocene of the Levant (which has been alternatively considered by other authors to be a type of fallow deer as Dama clactoniana mugharensis[11]),with Middle Pleistocene cervid remains from North Africa possibly belonging to an ancestor of the species, and retained Megaceroides at generic rank.

[1] Croitor also proposed based on the craniodental morphology of Megaceroides algericus that it was also closely related to the Eurasian giant deer/Irish elk Megaloceros giganteus.

[12] The species was found within the Mediterranean region of northwest Africa north of the Atlas Mountains, with 26 known localities within Algeria and Morocco, extending from Bizmoune cave near Essaouira in the west to Hammam Maskhoutine and Puits des Chaachas in the East.

The upper canines are absent (there are no sockets for them present on the Aïn Bénian skull) and the lower fourth premolar (P4) is molarised (molar-like in morphology).

[1] Croitor suggests that several rock art drawings from the Altas and the Sahara depict the taxon, which show horned animals, some with antler like tines including proportionally long tails.

On several morphological grounds, Croitor proposed that its habits were peri- or semiaquatic, with the weak mastication ability and polished cheek teeth by attrition suggesting a preference for soft water plants, with taking of non-aquatic forage during the dry seasons.

The Holocene transition in North Africa also saw other extinctions of ungulates, including Gazella, Equus, Camelus, the African subspecies of the aurochs and Syncerus antiquus.