The dwarf musk deer or Chinese forest musk deer (''Moschus berezovskii'', ) is an

artiodactyl The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poste ...

native to southern and central China and northernmost

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

. The species name is after the collector Mikhail Mikhailovich Berezovsky. On June 14, 1976, China entered the dwarf musk deer onto its endangered species list. Four subspecies are recognized: *''Moschus berezovskii berezovskii'' Flerov, 1929 *''Moschus berezovskii bijiangensis'' Wang & Li, 1993 *''Moschus berezovskii caobangis'' Dao, 1969 *''Moschus berezovskii yanguiensis'' Wang & Ma, 1993

Parasites

As most animals, the dwarf musk deer harbours a number of parasites. In 2021, a study showed that ten species of Eimeria, which are

apicomplexan The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. The ...

protozoans living in the digestive tract, were specific of this host.

References

Notes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q277469 Musk deer Mammals described in 1929