---
_id: '14932'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: The huge antlers of the extinct Irish elk have invited evolutionary speculation
since Darwin. In the 1970s, Stephen Jay Gould presented the first extensive data
on antler size in the Irish elk and combined these with comparative data from
other deer to test the hypothesis that the gigantic antlers were the outcome of
a positive allometry that constrained large-bodied deer to have proportionally
even larger antlers. He concluded that the Irish elk had antlers as predicted
for its size and interpreted this within his emerging framework of developmental
constraints as an explanatory factor in evolution. Here we reanalyze antler allometry
based on new morphometric data for 57 taxa of the family Cervidae. We also present
a new phylogeny for the Cervidae, which we use for comparative analyses. In contrast
to Gould, we find that the antlers of Irish elk were larger than predicted from
the allometry within the true deer, Cervini, as analyzed by Gould, but follow
the allometry across Cervidae as a whole. After dissecting the discrepancy, we
reject the allometric-constraint hypothesis because, contrary to Gould, we find
no similarity between static and evolutionary allometries, and because we document
extensive non-allometric evolution of antler size across the Cervidae.
acknowledgement: "Open access funding provided by University of Oslo (incl Oslo University
Hospital).\r\nWe thank Adrian Lister, Louis Tomsett, Roberto Portela Miguez and
Roula Pappa (NHMUK), Brian O'Toole and Eileen Westwig (AMNH), Daniela Kalthoff (NHRM),
Alexander Bibl and Zachos Frank (NHMW), Darrin Lunde and John Ososky (NMNH), Matthew
Parkes and Nigel Monaghan (NMI), Elizabetta Cioppi and Luca Bellucci (IGF), and
Yoshihiro Tanaka and Hiroyuki Taruno (OMNH), who helped us in obtaining the museum
data, and a special thanks to Jørgen Sikkeland (NTNU NHM) for assistance in obtaining
the ontogenetic data for the red deer. We thank Olja Toljagic and Kjetil L. Voje
for discussions, Ayumu Tsuboi for assistance with data collection, and Jean-Michel
Gaillard and the anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. We thank the
Centre of Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters
for hosting us during the academic year of 2019/2020 when much of the analysis and
writing were done. MT was funded by JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists
(201603238)."
article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Masahito
full_name: Tsuboi, Masahito
last_name: Tsuboi
- first_name: Bjørn Tore
full_name: Kopperud, Bjørn Tore
last_name: Kopperud
- first_name: Michael
full_name: Matschiner, Michael
last_name: Matschiner
- first_name: Mark
full_name: Grabowski, Mark
last_name: Grabowski
- first_name: Chrsitine
full_name: Syrowatka, Chrsitine
id: 205ffb76-7fe7-11eb-aa17-958bd11b99ad
last_name: Syrowatka
- first_name: Christophe
full_name: Pélabon, Christophe
last_name: Pélabon
- first_name: Thomas F.
full_name: Hansen, Thomas F.
last_name: Hansen
citation:
ama: Tsuboi M, Kopperud BT, Matschiner M, et al. Antler allometry, the Irish elk
and Gould revisited. Evolutionary Biology. 2024;51:149-165. doi:10.1007/s11692-023-09624-1
apa: Tsuboi, M., Kopperud, B. T., Matschiner, M., Grabowski, M., Syrowatka, C.,
Pélabon, C., & Hansen, T. F. (2024). Antler allometry, the Irish elk and Gould
revisited. Evolutionary Biology. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-023-09624-1
chicago: Tsuboi, Masahito, Bjørn Tore Kopperud, Michael Matschiner, Mark Grabowski,
Chrsitine Syrowatka, Christophe Pélabon, and Thomas F. Hansen. “Antler Allometry,
the Irish Elk and Gould Revisited.” Evolutionary Biology. Springer Nature,
2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-023-09624-1.
ieee: M. Tsuboi et al., “Antler allometry, the Irish elk and Gould revisited,”
Evolutionary Biology, vol. 51. Springer Nature, pp. 149–165, 2024.
ista: Tsuboi M, Kopperud BT, Matschiner M, Grabowski M, Syrowatka C, Pélabon C,
Hansen TF. 2024. Antler allometry, the Irish elk and Gould revisited. Evolutionary
Biology. 51, 149–165.
mla: Tsuboi, Masahito, et al. “Antler Allometry, the Irish Elk and Gould Revisited.”
Evolutionary Biology, vol. 51, Springer Nature, 2024, pp. 149–65, doi:10.1007/s11692-023-09624-1.
short: M. Tsuboi, B.T. Kopperud, M. Matschiner, M. Grabowski, C. Syrowatka, C. Pélabon,
T.F. Hansen, Evolutionary Biology 51 (2024) 149–165.
date_created: 2024-02-04T23:00:53Z
date_published: 2024-03-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-09-04T11:54:55Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: MaRo
doi: 10.1007/s11692-023-09624-1
external_id:
isi:
- '001151285200001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: 416ab4dac751c443b9de51fb58278ff2
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2024-07-22T11:53:43Z
date_updated: 2024-07-22T11:53:43Z
file_id: '17311'
file_name: 2024_EvolutionaryBio_Tsuboi.pdf
file_size: 1705974
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file_date_updated: 2024-07-22T11:53:43Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 51'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 149-165
publication: Evolutionary Biology
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1934-2845
issn:
- 0071-3260
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Antler allometry, the Irish elk and Gould revisited
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 51
year: '2024'
...