Praemegaceros

[3] The genus was widely distributed across Europe, West and Central Asia during the Early-Middle Pleistocene, with fossils having been discovered in France, Georgia, Germany, England, Greece, Israel, Italy, Romania, Russia Spain, Syria, and Tajikistan.

An insular species, P. cazioti survived into the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in isolation on the Sardinia-Corsica archipelago until around 5500 BCE.

[1] Isotopic analysis of The species was named by Robert in 1930 for remains from Soleilhac, an early Middle Pleistocene site located in the Massif Central, France.

[19] P. cazioti is smaller than P. sardus, being slightly larger than a fallow deer, with an estimated body mass of around 70–90 kilograms (150–200 lb), exhibiting an over 75% size reduction from its presumed mainland ancestor Praemegaceros solilhacus, an example of insular dwarfism.

Croitor suggests an origin in South Asia for this species, descended from taxa possibly referrable to Panolia sp.

[1] Named in 1882 from remains from the Middle Pleistocene Cromer Forest Bed in Norfolk by Edwin Tulley Newton which were originally described in 1872 as belonging to P. verticornis by William Boyd Dawkins.

Croitor suggests that because the pedicles (base of the antlers) are robust and similar to those of giant deer, that P. dawkinsi represents a dwarfed form.

[21] Named by Wolfgang Soergel in 1927 for the species found in the lowest level of the Middle Pleistocene Mosbach locality in Germany.

However, Croitor suggests that these similarities are the result of parallel evolution, and proposes that P. mosbachensis represents an intermediate form between P. obscurus and P.

[8] During the Early-Middle Pleistocene, mainland species of Praemegaceros are suggested to have been preyed upon by the sabertooth cats Megantereon and Homotherium, and the "European jaguar" Panthera gombaszoegensis.

Antlers of P. verticornis
P. solilhacus antler
Skull of P. cazioti in various views
Life restoration of the Sardinian Praemegaceros cazioti by Roman Uchytel