The chital or cheetal (Axis axis; ), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, male chital reach and females at the shoulder. While males weigh , females weigh around . It is sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females, and antlers are present only on males. The upper parts are golden to rufous, completely covered in white spots. The abdomen, rump, throat, insides of legs, ears, and tail are all white. The antlers, three-pronged, are nearly long. Etymology The vernacular name "chital" (pronounced ) comes from cītal (), derived from the Sanskrit word (चित्रल), meaning "variegated" or "spotted". The name of the cheetah has a similar origin. Variations of "chital" include "cheetal" and "cheetul". Other common names for the chital are Indian spotted deer (or simply the spotted deer) and axis deer. Taxonomy and phylogeny The chital was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777 as Cervus axis. In 1827, Charles Hamilton Smith placed the chital in its own subgenus Axis under the genus Cervus. Axis was elevated to generic status by Colin P. Groves and Peter Grubb in 1987. The genus Hyelaphus was considered a subgenus of Axis. However, a morphological analysis showed significant differences between Axis and Hyelaphus. A phylogenetic study later that year showed that Hyelaphus is closer to the genus Rusa than Axis. Axis was revealed to be paraphyletic and distant from Hyelaphus in the phylogenetic tree; the chital was found to form a clade with the barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii) and the Schomburgk's deer (Rucervus schomburgki). The chital was estimated to have genetically diverged from the Rucervus lineage in the Early Pliocene about . The following cladogram is based on a 2006 phylogenetic study: Fossils of extinct Axis species dating to the early to Middle Pliocene were excavated from Iran in the west to Indochina in the east. Remains of the chital were found in the Middle Pleistocene deposits of Thailand along with sun bear, Stegodon, gaur, wild water buffalo and other living and extinct mammals. Description The chital is a moderately sized deer. Males reach up to and females at the shoulder; the head-and-body length is around . While immature males weigh , the lighter females weigh . Mature