Phylogeny of wapiti, red deer, sika deer, and other North American cervidsas determined from mitochondrial DNA

Red deer (Cervus elaphus) are divided into three subspecific groups; the fi rst group includes seven subspecies from Europe and northern Africa, the se cond group includes seven subspecies from central Asia, and the third group includes nine subspecies from eastern Asia, Siberia, and North America. Re cognition of the North American wapiti as a species has been denied on the basis of morphological similarity with red deer and the circumpolar distrib ution of C. elaphus. Sika deer (C. nippon), which are distributed in much o f the same range, also share phenotypic and genotypic similarities with the red deer. A comparison of sequences from the control region of mitochondri al DNA (mtDNA) from North American and Siberian wapiti, European red deer, and Asian sika deer was used to construct a phylogenetic relationship among these cervids and other cervids found within North America, including whit e-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), black-tailed deer (O. hemionus colu mbianus), moose (Alces alces), and caribou (Rangifer tarandus). The mtDNA s equence divergence between wapiti and red deer was 5.60%, between wapiti an d sika deer 5.19%, and between sika deer and red deer 5.02%, suggesting tha t the subspecies status of North American wapiti needs to be reviewed. The mtDNA sequence divergence between white-tailed deer and black-tailed deer w as 7.82% and is consistant with earlier mtDNA studies in Odocileus. (C) 199 8 Academic Press.