Molecular dating suggests that the family Cervidae originated and radiated in central Asia during the Late Miocene, and that the Odocoileini dispersed to North America during the Miocene/Pliocene boundary and underwent an adaptive radiation in South America after their Pliocene dispersal across the Isthmus of Panama. According to the systematic relationships and evolutionary history of neotropical deer, at least eight ancestral forms of deer invaded South America during the late Pliocene (2.5–3 Mya), and members of the red brockets had an independent early explosive diversification soon after their ancestor arrived there, giving rise to a number of morphologically cryptic species.