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information about the origin of the Lampedusa deer, which has not come down
to us (Masseti and Zava, 2002). The Corsican red deer is stili dispersed in a few
areas of southern Sardinia (Murgia and Monni, 1991; Beccu, 1993), where it
may be regarded as the oldest established red deer stock stili surviving on the
Mediterranean islands (cf Masseti, 1998) (Fig. 2). In the course of the last 15
years, the subspecies has been reintroduced onto Corsica where it became extinct
in about 1970 (Saint-Girons, 1973; Conchon, 1979; Krumbiegel, 1982; Dolan,
1988; Beccu, 1989, 1993). The modest antlers ofthe Sardinian stags rarely reach
the typical development of the species an d reveal a reduced totallength ( < 70
cm), with the bez tine generally developed in a very low percentage ( Cetti, 177 4;
Dolan, 1988; Vigne and Marinval-Vigne, 1988), which according to Beccu
(1989) does not exceed nine per cent. In most cases, the antlers of this subspecies
are characterised by the absence of the crown, often displaying a tendency to
palmation belowthefork (Vigne andMarinval-Vigne, 1988; Beccu, 1989, 1993).
Similar morphological patterns are characteristic of another Mediterranean
subspecies of red deer, the Barbary stag, C e. barbarus Bennett, 1833, originally
dispersed along the mountainous and forested territori es of north-eastern Algeria
an d north-western Tunisia, which appears today to survive only in the area of the
El Feidja National Park (Ghardimaou, Jendouba, Tunisia) (Kock and Schomber,
1961; Salez, 1959) (Fig. 3). This subspecies is bigger than the Corsican form,
standing approximately 112 cm at the withers in the case of the stags (Meyer,

Fig. 3- Herd ofBarbary red deer, Cervus elaphus bm·bams Bennett, 1833, in the oak forest of the National Park ofEl
Fedjia (north western Tunisia). As for the Corsican deer, the absence of the bez tine in the growing an tiers of the stags
can be observed (photograph by Marco Masseti)

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