No subspecies are recognized. Sometimes the Persian fallow deer Dama mesopotamica is regarded as a subspecies, but this is not supported by the available data and is not adopted here. Both taxa are genetically very distinct (e.g. Masseti et al. 2008; Fernandez-Garcia 2012) and it has been suggested before that these two taxa should better be treated as two separate species (e.g. Agnarsson and May-Collado 2008; Gilbert et al. 2006; Pitra et al. 2004; Randi et al. 2001). The main argument for the status as two subspecies is the fact that the two taxa produce fertile offspring in captivity. However, this is true for many good species that are capable of producing fertile offspring in captivity, but rarely interbreed under natural conditions. Indeed, the study by Fernandez-Garcia 2012 suggests that there has been very little admixture or hybridization between the two taxa; a similar result is presented by Masseti et al. 2008 who suggest that the two lineages are distinct since ca. 400.000 years. In addition, the two taxa trace from overlapping areas of origin (see below under Distribution) and therefore have apparently differentiated in sympatry, a strong argument for species status.

There are also some fossil taxa sometimes classified as subspecies of the present species (e.g. Dama dama geiselana and Dama dama clactoniana; see e.g. Pfeiffer 1998). However, this concept of fossil subspecies is not compatible with the concept of extant subspecies employed here throughout Zoographia Germaniae, and therefore I do not include the fossil taxa here as subspecies.