STUDIES ON THE PARIETAL REGION OF THE CERVID SKULL III - ON THE OCCURRENCE OF AN INTERPARIETAL IN CERVUS

The occurrence of an os interparietale was studied in two transparent preparations of fetal red deer (Cervus elaphus) heads and in 14 dried skulls of fetal to early postnatal individuals from four Cervus specie s (C. elaphus, C. nippon, C. duvauceli and C. eldi). In 14 of the 16 s pecimens, an interparietal was present as either a paired or single bo ne. In only a neonate red deer and a 5-week-old sika deer this skull e lement was missing. We therefore conclude that an os interparietale, d eveloping from paired centres of ossification, is normally present in Cervus species. This clearly distinguishes them from the fallow deer, where an interparietal is missing (Kierdorf and Kierdorf, 1992b). Our findings thus support the view that the fallow deer should be consider ed a distinct genus Dama instead of being included within Cervus.