The tragic fire at the National Museum (Brazil) in September 2018 caused invaluable losses to South American natural and cultural heritage. However, previous visits to the paleontological collection generated photographic and descriptive records of mammalian fossil specimens from the Pleistocene of Brazil. Thus, it was possible to redescribe and revise the taxonomy of Cervidae fossils from two important paleontological sites in the Brazilian Intertropical Region (João Cativo and Lage Grande). These fossils include antlers and lower teeth, and they were described and taxonomically identified by morphological comparisons with all extant and extinct South American deers. A new diversity of Cervidae was recognized, differently from that proposed in the literature, which recognized the presence of Hippocamelus sulcatus, Mazama americana, and Ozotoceros bezoarticus. Instead, the Cervidae fossils from João Cativo and Lage Grande sites belong to the extinct deer Morenelaphus. Although some specimens could not be identified at a specific level (Cervidae indet.), a comparative analysis of the estimated body mass pointed out the most massive deer in South America (including extinct and extant) and recognized Morenelaphus as the second heaviest. The record of these large deers with huge antlers suggests the presence of natural grasslands areas and milder climatic conditions for late Pleistocene in the Brazilian Intertropical Region. Climatic and environmental changes may have driven these large deers to extinction in the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. This study reveals an unprecedented Cervidae diversity for the Brazilian Intertropical Region, emphasizes the relevance of dental features, together with antlers morphology, in taxonomic studies of Cervidae, and also highlights the importance of South American natural heritage in the retrieving of knowledge and new scientific discoveries through collection specimens.

2018年9月在国家博物馆（巴西）发生的悲剧性火灾给南美自然和文化遗产造成了巨大损失。但是，以前对古生物收藏的访问产生了来自巴西更新世的哺乳动物化石标本的照相和描述性记录。因此，有可能重新定义和修订巴西热带地区两个重要的古生物学遗址（乔奥·卡蒂沃和拉格·格兰德）的鹿角化石的分类学。这些化石包括鹿角和下牙齿，并且通过与所有现存和已灭绝的南美鹿的形态比较对它们进行了描述和分类。与文献中提出的不同，人们认识到鹿角科有新的多样性，后者认识到有沙棘。，美洲Mazama和Ozotoceros bezoarticus。相反，来自JoãoCativo和Lage Grande遗址的Cervidae化石属于灭绝的鹿Morenelaphus。尽管无法在特定水平上鉴定出某些标本（Cervidae indet。），但对估计体重的比较分析指出，南美最大的鹿（包括已灭绝和现存的鹿）被认为是莫雷纳帕胡斯作为第二重的。这些大型鹿角大的鹿的记录表明，巴西热带地区存在天然草原地区，晚更新世的气候条件温和。气候和环境的变化可能导致这些大型鹿在更新世/全新世过渡期灭绝。这项研究揭示了巴西热带地区前所未有的鹿角科多样性，强调了牙齿特征和鹿角形态在鹿角科分类学研究中的相关性，还强调了南美自然遗产在检索知识和新科学发现中的重要性通过收集标本。