The genus
Odocoileus was named by French zoologist,
Constantine S. Rafinesque, in 1832, based on teeth and part of a jaw (presumably of
Odocoileus virginianus) gathered by a Mr. Wardel from an anonymous cave in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania on the banks of the
Conococheague Creek, and kept in the collection of a Mr. Hayden of Baltimore. Rafinesque could refer these teeth to no other living animal known to him, despite having then lived in native white-tailed deer habitat for decades (although the white-tailed deer had been previously described in the literature, between 1850 and 1900 the white-tailed deer population was reduced to 300,000 to 500,000 individuals, found only in remote locations inaccessible to humans). Rafinesque described enamel that covered the tooth, including the hollow inside, and named the species
Odocoileus speleus, for "teeth well hollowed" and
speleus referring to a cave
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