Antifer is an extinct genus of large herbivorous deer belonging to the tribe Odocoileini native to South America during the Pleistocene, becoming extinct around 12,000 years ago. It was one of the largest South American deer genera, with an estimated body mass of up to , comparable to red deer, considerably exceeding the marsh deer, the largest living South American deer species in size. The genus has large antlers that could reach length of over .
Taxonomy
Antifer was named by Ameghino (1889) based on Captain Antifer in a
Jules Verne novel describing his voyage of discovery in the Southern Hemisphere. It was assigned to
Cervidae by Carroll (1988).
[R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company]
Fossil distribution
The fossil remains are confined to southern
Brazil, the
Sopas Formation of
Uruguay, central
Chile and
Argentina.
[ Antifer at Fossilworks.org] It is known mostly from large, non-palmated shed
.