Genetic and Morphologic Comparisons of Red Brocket, Brown Brocket, and White-Tailed Deer

Abstract

Comparisons were made for four cervids: red brocket ( Mazama americana ), brown brocket ( M. gouazoubira ), and white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) from Suriname and the southeastern United States. They could be distinguished by biochemical variants and the allometric relationships describing their skulls as revealed by discriminant function analysis. The four forms were closely related with the brown brocket being the most divergent. The percentages of polymorphic loci ( P = 10.5–57.9) and heterozygosity ( H = 0.036–0.079) were within the range expected for large grazing mammals, although the whitetails from Suriname had the lowest level of genetic variability ( P = 10.5%; H = 0.036) yet reported for this species in studies with 19 or more loci surveyed.