Mitochondrial DNA extracted from eastern North American wolves killed in the 1800s is not of gray wolf origin

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 936-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
P J Wilson ◽  
S Grewal ◽  
T McFadden ◽  
R C Chambers ◽  
B N White
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
North American ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
New York State ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Gray Wolf ◽  
Canis Rufus ◽  
Upper Great Lakes ◽  
Red Wolf

We analysed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from two historical samples of eastern North American wolves: the last wolf reported to have been killed in northern New York State (ca. 1890s) and a wolf killed in Maine in the 1880s. These wolves represent eastern wolves, presently classified as the gray wolf (Canis lupus) subspecies Canis lupus lycaon, which were present well before the expansion of western coyotes (Canis latrans) into these regions. We show the absence of gray wolf mtDNA in these wolves. They both contain New World mtDNA, supporting previous findings of a North American evolution of the eastern timber wolf (originally classified as Canis lycaon) and red wolf (Canis rufus) independently of the gray wolf, which originated in Eurasia. The presence of a second wolf species in North America has important implications for the conservation and management of wolves. In the upper Great Lakes region, wolves of both species may exist in sympatry or interbreed with each other, which impacts the accuracy of estimates of numbers of wolves of each species within this geographic region. Furthermore, the historical distribution of the eastern timber wolf (C. lycaon), as revealed by these skin samples, has important implications for the reintroduction of wolves into the northeastern U.S. states, such as New York and Maine.

α1-Antitrypsin polymorphism and systematics of eastern North American wolves

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 961-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
L David Mech ◽  
Nicholas E Federoff
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Canis Latrans ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Gray Wolf ◽  
Canis Rufus ◽  
Red Wolf ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Red Wolves

We used data on the polymorphic status of α1-antitrypsin (α1AT) to study the relationship of Minnesota wolves to the gray wolf (Canis lupus), which was thought to have evolved in Eurasia, and to red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans), which putatively evolved in North America. Recent evidence had indicated that Minnesota wolves might be more closely related to red wolves and coyotes. Samples from wild-caught Minnesota wolves and from captive wolves, at least some of which originated in Alaska and western Canada, were similarly polymorphic for α1AT, whereas coyote and red wolf samples were all monomorphic. Our findings, in conjunction with earlier results, are consistent with the Minnesota wolf being a gray wolf of Eurasian origin or possibly a hybrid between the gray wolf of Eurasian origin and the proposed North American wolf.

scholarly journals An Account of the Taxonomy of North American Wolves From Morphological and Genetic Analyses

2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Chambers ◽  
Steven R. Fain ◽  
Bud Fazio ◽  
Michael Amaral
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Microsatellite Dna ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Gray Wolf ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Canis Rufus ◽  
Eastern Wolf

Abstract The available scientific literature was reviewed to assess the taxonomic standing of North American wolves, including subspecies of the gray wolf, Canis lupus. The recent scientific proposal that the eastern wolf, C. l. lycaon, is not a subspecies of gray wolf, but a full species, Canis lycaon, is well-supported by both morphological and genetic data. This species' range extends westward to Minnesota, and it hybridizes with gray wolves where the two species are in contact in eastern Canada and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Genetic data support a close relationship between eastern wolf and red wolf Canis rufus, but do not support the proposal that they are the same species; it is more likely that they evolved independently from different lineages of a common ancestor with coyotes. The genetic distinctiveness of the Mexican wolf Canis lupus baileyi supports its recognition as a subspecies. The available genetic and morphometric data do not provide clear support for the recognition of the Arctic wolf Canis lupus arctos, but the available genetic data are almost entirely limited to one group of genetic markers (microsatellite DNA) and are not definitive on this question. Recognition of the northern timber wolf Canis lupus occidentalis and the plains wolf Canis lupus nubilus as subspecies is supported by morphological data and extensive studies of microsatellite DNA variation where both subspecies are in contact in Canada. The wolves of coastal areas in southeastern Alaska and British Columbia should be assigned to C. lupus nubilus. There is scientific support for the taxa recognized here, but delineation of exact geographic boundaries presents challenges. Rather than sharp boundaries between taxa, boundaries should generally be thought of as intergrade zones of variable width.

DNA profiles of the eastern Canadian wolf and the red wolf provide evidence for a common evolutionary history independent of the gray wolf

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 2156-2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J Wilson ◽  
Sonya Grewal ◽  
Ian D Lawford ◽  
Jennifer NM Heal ◽  
Angela G Granacki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Material ◽  
Gray Wolf ◽  
Canis Rufus ◽  
Red Wolf ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Original Species ◽  
Dna Profiles ◽  
Microsatellite Alleles ◽  
Red Wolves

The origin and taxonomy of the red wolf (Canis rufus) have been the subject of considerable debate and it has been suggested that this taxon was recently formed as a result of hybridization between the coyote and gray wolf. Like the red wolf, the eastern Canadian wolf has been characterized as a small "deer-eating" wolf that hybridizes with coyotes (Canis latrans). While studying the population of eastern Canadian wolves in Algonquin Provincial Park we recognized similarities to the red wolf, based on DNA profiles at 8 microsatellite loci. We examined whether this relationship was due to similar levels of introgressed coyote genetic material by comparing the microsatellite alleles with those of other North American populations of wolves and coyotes. These analyses indicated that it was not coyote genetic material which led to the close genetic affinity between red wolves and eastern Canadian wolves. We then examined the control region of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and confirmed the presence of coyote sequences in both. However, we also found sequences in both that diverged by 150 000 - 300 000 years from sequences found in coyotes. None of the red wolves or eastern Canadian wolf samples from the 1960s contained gray wolf (Canis lupus) mtDNA sequences. The data are not consistent with the hypothesis that the eastern Canadian wolf is a subspecies of gray wolf as it is presently designated. We suggest that both the red wolf and the eastern Canadian wolf evolved in North America sharing a common lineage with the coyote until 150 000 - 300 000 years ago. We propose that it retain its original species designation, Canis lycaon.

scholarly journals Evidence for a late glacial advance near the beginning of the Younger Dryas in western New York State: An event postdating the record for local Laurentide ice sheet recession

Geosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Young ◽  
Lee M. Gordon ◽  
Lewis A. Owen ◽  
Sebastien Huot ◽  
Timothy D. Zerfas
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New England ◽  
New York State ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Discrete Events ◽  
Upper Great Lakes ◽  
Similar Distance ◽  
Glacial Tills ◽  
Glacial Advance

Widespread evidence of an unrecognized late glacial advance across preexisting moraines in western New York is confirmed by 40 14C ages and six new optically stimulated luminescence analyses between the Genesee Valley and the Cattaraugus Creek basin of eastern Lake Erie. The Late Wisconsin chronology is relatively unconstrained by local dating of moraines between Pennsylvania and Lake Ontario. Few published 14C ages record discrete events, unlike evidence in the upper Great Lakes and New England. The new 14C ages from wood in glacial tills along Buttermilk Creek south of Springville, New York, and reevaluation of numerous 14C ages from miscellaneous investigations in the Genesee Valley document a significant glacial advance into Cattaraugus and Livingston Counties between 13,000 and 13,300 cal yr B.P., near the Greenland Interstadial 1b (GI-1b) cooling leading into the transition from the Bölling-Alleröd to the Younger Dryas. The chronology from four widely distributed sites indicates that a Late Wisconsin advance spread till discontinuously over the surface, without significantly modifying the preexisting glacial topography. A short-lived advance by a partially grounded ice shelf best explains the evidence. The advance, ending 43 km south of Rochester and a similar distance south of Buffalo, overlaps the revised chronology for glacial Lake Iroquois, now considered to extend from ca. 14,800–13,000 cal yr B.P. The spread of the radiocarbon ages is similar to the well-known Two Creeks Forest Bed, which equates the event with the Two Rivers advance in Wisconsin.

scholarly journals INTROGRESSION OF COYOTE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA INTO SYMPATRIC NORTH AMERICAN GRAY WOLF POPULATIONS

Evolution ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niles Lehman ◽  
Andrew Eisenhawer ◽  
Kimberly Hansen ◽  
L. David Mech ◽  
Rolf O. Peterson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
North American ◽  
Gray Wolf

scholarly journals Genome-wide local ancestries discriminate homoploid hybrid speciation from secondary introgression in the red wolf (Canidae: Canis rufus)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler K. Chafin ◽  
Marlis R. Douglas ◽  
Michael E. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
X Chromosome ◽  
North American ◽  
Gene Trees ◽  
Canis Rufus ◽  
Red Wolf ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Homoploid Hybrid ◽  
Divergence Estimates ◽  
The Impact

AbstractHybridization is well recognized as a driver of speciation, yet it often remains difficult to parse phylogenomically in that post-speciation gene flow frequently supersedes an ancestral signal. Here we examined how interactions between recombination and gene flow shaped the phylogenomic landscape of red wolf to create non-random retention of introgressed ancestry. Our re-analyses of genomic data recapitulate fossil evidence by demonstrating red wolf was indeed extant and isolated prior to more recent admixture with other North American canids. Its more ancient divergence, now sequestered within low-recombinant regions on the X-chromosome (i.e., chromosomal ‘refugia’), is effectively masked by multiple, successive waves of secondary introgression that now dominate its autosomal ancestry. These interpretations are congruent with more theoretical explanations that describe the manner by which introgression can be localized within the genome through recombination and selection. They also tacitly support the large-X effect, i.e., the manner by which loci that contribute to reproductive isolation can be enriched on the X-chromosome. By contrast, similar, high recombinant regions were also found as enriched within very shallow gene trees, thus reflecting post-speciation gene flow and a compression of divergence estimates to 1/20th of that found in recombination ‘cold spots’. Our results effectively reconcile conflicting hypotheses regarding the impact of hybridization on evolution of North American canids and support an emerging framework within which the analysis of a phylogenomic landscape structured by recombination can be used to successfully address the macroevolutionary implications of hybridization.

scholarly journals Postcranial diversity and recent ecomorphic impoverishment of North American gray wolves

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 20170613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Tomiya ◽  
Julie A. Meachen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Gray Wolf ◽  
Evolutionary Potential ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Gray Wolves ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Northwestern North America

Recent advances in genomics and palaeontology have begun to unravel the complex evolutionary history of the gray wolf, Canis lupus . Still, much of their phenotypic variation across time and space remains to be documented. We examined the limb morphology of the fossil and modern North American gray wolves from the late Quaternary (< ca 70 ka) to better understand their postcranial diversity through time. We found that the late-Pleistocene gray wolves were characterized by short-leggedness on both sides of the Cordilleran–Laurentide ice sheets, and that this trait survived well into the Holocene despite the collapse of Pleistocene megafauna and disappearance of the ‘Beringian wolf' from Alaska. By contrast, extant populations in the Midwestern USA and northwestern North America are distinguished by their elongate limbs with long distal segments, which appear to have evolved during the Holocene possibly in response to a new level or type of prey depletion. One of the consequences of recent extirpation of the Plains ( Canis lupus nubilus ) and Mexican wolves ( C. l. baileyi ) from much of the USA is an unprecedented loss of postcranial diversity through removal of short-legged forms. Conservation of these wolves is thus critical to restoration of the ecophenotypic diversity and evolutionary potential of gray wolves in North America.

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