SIMPOSIOS

Cervidae is the second most diverse family within Artiodactyla.In the Neotropical region, 20 species are considered valid within the genera Blastocerus, Hippocamelus, Mazama, Odocoileus, Ozotoceros, Pudu, Pudella, Passalites, Bisbalus and Subulo.Some genera, especially Mazama, present great uncertainties regarding their taxonomy due to the high degree of morphological character homoplasy.Some species, like M. americana, are actually complexes of cryptic species, resulting from impressive karyotypic variability.This superspecies exhibits variation from 32 to 52 chromosomes with the same morphological pattern among its members.Captive breeding experiments have shown that differences greater than two pairs of chromosomes between parents produce infertile animals or those with significant fertility decrease.Thus, animals considered as M. americana and its junior synonyms should be reevaluated cytogenetically.After the description of the chromosomal constitution of M. americana "sensu stricto", originating from French Guiana, it became possible to revalidate other species, such as M. rufa and M. jucunda in Brazil.Currently, all names available in the synonymy of M. americana are being revisited throughout Latin America, and new names have been suggested as potential new species, such as M. sarae in Bolivia, M. tchudii and M. whitely in Peru, M. gualea and M. zamora in Ecuador, M. zetta in Colombia and M. toba in Argentina.A joint effort by South American researchers must be undertaken for a thorough characterization of these new species and their geographical distributions, which will allow categorizing them according to their threat status and developing appropriate conservation measures for each species.