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Genus Canis in the New World; How many species in the genus Canis live today in the New World?
Topic Started: Jan 23 2017, 05:43 PM (449 Views)
Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
Heterotrophic Organism
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I would like to know your opinion on the subject of the number of species included in the genus Canis (family Canidae, order Carnivora, class Mammalia) living today in the New World. As far as I know, today in North America there are five living species of Canis: Canis lupus (grey wolf), Canis rufus (red wolf), Canis latrans (coyote), Canis lycaon (eastern wolf), and Canis familiaris (domestic dog). In Central America, South America and the adjacent islands the only living species of Canis that I know is Canis familiaris (domestic dog).
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hawkkeye
Autotrophic Organism
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There´s only two species of canis in America. Eastern and red wolves are just interspecific hybrids acording to newest study (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/7/e1501714.full). Canis familiaris is treated as a wolf subspecies (canis lupus familiaris). And coyotees (canis latrans) live in central america as well.
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Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
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Thank you very much for your reply!
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AiM4
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hawkkeye
Jan 23 2017, 07:56 PM
There´s only two species of canis in America. Eastern and red wolves are just interspecific hybrids acording to newest study (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/7/e1501714.full). Canis familiaris is treated as a wolf subspecies (canis lupus familiaris). And coyotees (canis latrans) live in central america as well.
Aren't coyotes and wolfs different from each other?

Wouldn't there be 3 different canis species?
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Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
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For conservation purposes, I think it would be better to treat eastern wolves (Canis lycaon) and red wolves (Canis rufus) as distinct taxons, not as natural hybrids of grey wolves (Canis lupus) and coyotes (Canis latrans). And for the same reasons, I think it would be better to recognize the domestic dog as a separate species (Canis familiaris), not as a domesticated subspecies of grey wolf (Canis lupus familiaris).
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hawkkeye
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AiM4
Jan 23 2017, 10:32 PM
hawkkeye
Jan 23 2017, 07:56 PM
There´s only two species of canis in America. Eastern and red wolves are just interspecific hybrids acording to newest study (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/7/e1501714.full). Canis familiaris is treated as a wolf subspecies (canis lupus familiaris). And coyotees (canis latrans) live in central america as well.
Aren't coyotes and wolfs different from each other?

Wouldn't there be 3 different canis species?
Where you see third species? Coyotee and wolf. That´s two. Dog is wolf subspecies, eastern and red wolf are hybrids.

And if they are hybrids (which seems to be true) there´s no reason for conservation of them. America is full of wolf-coyotee hybrids.
Edited by hawkkeye, Jan 24 2017, 03:17 AM.
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Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
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But why the domestic dog is considered a subspecies of the grey wolf? They seem different enough to be classified as distinct species.
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hawkkeye
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Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
Jan 24 2017, 06:48 AM
But why the domestic dog is considered a subspecies of the grey wolf? They seem different enough to be classified as distinct species.
In 2003, the ICZN ruled in its Opinion 2027 that if wild animals and their domesticated derivatives are regarded as one species, then the scientific name of that species is the scientific name of the wild animal. In 2005, the third edition of Mammal Species of the World upheld Opinion 2027 with the name Lupus and the note: "Includes the domestic dog as a subspecies, with the dingo provisionally separate - artificial variants created by domestication and selective breeding.
There´s no reason to classify domestic variants of wild animals as distinct species. There are just artificially created subspecies, with not enough molecular differences to separate them at species level.
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AiM4
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hawkkeye
Jan 24 2017, 03:13 AM
AiM4
Jan 23 2017, 10:32 PM
hawkkeye
Jan 23 2017, 07:56 PM
There´s only two species of canis in America. Eastern and red wolves are just interspecific hybrids acording to newest study (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/7/e1501714.full). Canis familiaris is treated as a wolf subspecies (canis lupus familiaris). And coyotees (canis latrans) live in central america as well.
Aren't coyotes and wolfs different from each other?

Wouldn't there be 3 different canis species?
Where you see third species? Coyotee and wolf. That´s two. Dog is wolf subspecies, eastern and red wolf are hybrids.

And if they are hybrids (which seems to be true) there´s no reason for conservation of them. America is full of wolf-coyotee hybrids.
3 because

Wolf
Coyote
Red Wolf

I never knew Red Wolves are hybrids though
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hawkkeye
Autotrophic Organism
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AiM4
Jan 24 2017, 07:20 PM
hawkkeye
Jan 24 2017, 03:13 AM
AiM4
Jan 23 2017, 10:32 PM
Where you see third species? Coyotee and wolf. That´s two. Dog is wolf subspecies, eastern and red wolf are hybrids.

And if they are hybrids (which seems to be true) there´s no reason for conservation of them. America is full of wolf-coyotee hybrids.
3 because

Wolf
Coyote
Red Wolf

I never knew Red Wolves are hybrids though
Just read this research :

advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/7/e1501714.full
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Claudiu Constantin Nicolaescu
Heterotrophic Organism
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If domestic species are conspecific with their wild ancestors then domestication is the most advantageous way to protect a species. You have a wild ancestor's genome in a superficially-modified domesticated organism. As Lavoisier's law says "rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme." ("Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.").
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