NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Philippine Brown Deer
Rusa marianna (Desmarest, 1822)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
![Philippine deer[1][2]
The Philippine deer (Rusa marianna), also known as the Philippine sambar or the Philippine Brown Deer, is a species of deer native to the forests and grasslands on most larger islands of the Philippines,. The only major islands where it is not distributed are Negros, Panay, Palawan, Sulu, and the Babuyan and Batanes island groups. It is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to its increasingly fragmented populations as a result of habitat loss and hunting. Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife Center[3] (NAPWC) is a 64.58-hectare (159.6-acre) zoological and botanical garden](/assets/optimized/ec90f2aeeb1056b5d5f8b6decaef150394631f6146f4a169585062306a00168c.webp)
Philippine deer[1][2] The Philippine deer (Rusa marianna), also known as the Philippine sambar or the Philippine Brown Deer, is a species of deer native to the forests and grasslands on most larger islands of the Philippines,. The only major islands where it is not distributed are Negros, Panay, Palawan, Sulu, and the Babuyan and Batanes island groups. It is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to its increasingly fragmented populations as a result of habitat loss and hunting. Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife Center[3] (NAPWC) is a 64.58-hectare (159.6-acre) zoological and botanical garden located in Diliman,[4] Quezon City,[5] the Philippines
Ramon FVelasquez · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Philippine deer (Rusa marianna), also known as the Philippine sambar or Philippine brown deer, is a vulnerable deer species endemic to the Philippines. It was first described from introduced populations in the Mariana Islands, hence the specific name.
Wikipedia contributors, Philippine deer; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:15:21.545275+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rusa marianna (Desmarest, 1822)
- Name authority
- (Desmarest, 1822)
- Common name
- Philippine Brown Deer
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Cervidae
- Genus
- Rusa
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
- familyCervidae Goldfuss, 1820
- subfamilyCervinae Goldfuss, 1820
- tribeCervini Goldfuss, 1820
- genusRusa C. H. Smith, 1827
- speciesRusa marianna (Desmarest, 1822)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Rusa. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Philippine Spotted DeerRusa alfredi (P. L. Sclater, 1870) | CervidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Javan RusaRusa timorensis (Blainville, 1822) | CervidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| SambarRusa unicolor (Kerr, 1792) | CervidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Cervus mariannus Desmarest, 1822 Desmarest, 1822 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Southern Asia
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=898213 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4TQSJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.