Data from: Using sperm morphometry and multivariate analysis to differentiate species of gray Mazama.

There is genetic evidence that the two species of Brazilian gray Mazama, Mazama gouazoubira and Mazama nemorivaga, belong to different genera. This study identified significant differences that separated them into distinct groups, based on characteristics of the spermatozoa and ejaculate of both species. The characteristics that most clearly differentiated between the species were ejaculate colour, white for M. gouazoubira and reddish for M. nemorivaga, and sperm head dimensions. Multivariate analysis of sperm head dimension and format data accurately discriminated three groups for species with total percentage of misclassified of 0.71. The individual analysis, by animal, the multivariate analysis have also discriminated correctly all five animals (total percentage of misclassified of 13.95%), and the canonical plot has shown three different clusters: Cluster 1, including individual of M. nemorivaga; Cluster 2, including two individual of M. gouazoubira; and Cluster 3, including a single individual of M. gouazoubira. The results obtained in this work corroborate the hypothesis of the formation of new genera and species for gray Mazama. Moreover, the easily applied method described herein can be used as an auxiliary tool to identify sibling species of other taxonomic groups.已有遗传学证据表明，巴西灰短角鹿属（Mazama）的两个物种——南美泽鹿（Mazama gouazoubira）与亚马逊短角鹿（Mazama nemorivaga），实则分属不同的属。本研究基于两种短角鹿的精子与精液特征，发现二者间存在显著差异，可将其划分为独立的类群。最能区分二者的特征为精液颜色与精子头部尺寸：南美泽鹿的精液呈白色，亚马逊短角鹿的精液呈淡红色。对精子头部尺寸与形态数据进行多变量分析后，可精准区分出三个类群，总错分率为0.71%。针对每头个体开展的多变量分析同样可正确区分全部5头实验动物，总错分率为13.95%；典范散点图（canonical plot）呈现出三个截然不同的聚类簇：聚类簇1包含亚马逊短角鹿的个体；聚类簇2包含2头南美泽鹿个体；聚类簇3仅包含1头南美泽鹿个体。本研究所得结果证实了巴西灰短角鹿属存在新属与新物种形成的假说。此外，本研究中所述的简便易行的检测方法，可作为辅助工具用于鉴定其他分类类群的姊妹种（sibling species）。