What’s in a name: Cervus canadensis versus Cervus elaphus

Astute readers of the works in this issue of California Fish and Wildlife will notice use of two binomial scientific names for North American elk (or wapiti): Cervus canadensis (Erxleben, 1777) and Cervus elaphus (Linnaeus, 1758). The editors of this issue chose to treat these names as synonyms and allow individual authors to retain their choice of each binomial name given the vigorous scientific debate that exists regarding the taxonomy and proper nomenclature of North American elk. While we do not wish to ourselves become involved in the debate, we would like to provide some background and further resources for those who are interested in further reading on the topic.

Further reading:

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Cervus elaphus. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180695#null
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Cervus canadensis. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180695#null
• Kuwayama, R., and T. Ozawa. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships among European red deer, wapiti, and sika deer inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 15: 115–123.
• Polziehn, R. O., and C. Strobeck. 1998. Phylogeny of wapiti, red deer, sika deer, and other North American cervids as determined from mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 10:249–258.
• Use of Cervus elaphus versus Cervus canadensis in reference to North American elk (wapiti)? https://www.researchgate.net/post/Use_of_Cervus_elaphus_versus_Cervus_canadensis_in_reference_to_North_American_elk_wapiti/1