Evolution of the wolf

Illustration of a Pleistocene wolf cranium that was found in Kents Cavern, Torquay, England[1]

It is widely agreed that the evolutionary lineage of the grey wolf can be traced back 2 million years to the Early Pleistocene species Canis etruscus, and its successor the Middle Pleistocene Canis mosbachensis.[2][3] The grey wolf Canis lupus is a highly adaptable species that is able to exist in a range of environments and which possesses a wide distribution across the Holarctic. Studies of modern grey wolves have identified distinct sub-populations that live in close proximity to each other.[4][5] This variation in sub-populations is closely linked to differences in habitat – precipitation, temperature, vegetation, and prey specialization – which affect cranio-dental plasticity.[6][7][8][9]

The earliest specimens of the modern grey wolf date to around 400,000 years ago,[10] or possibly earlier to 1 million years ago.[11] Most modern wolves share most of their common ancestry within the last 25-23,000 years from earlier Siberian wolf populations.[12][13][14][15] While some sources have suggested that this the result of a population bottleneck, others suggest that this is a normal consequence of gene flow homogenising wolf genomes across their range.[16]

  1. ^ Dawkins, William Boyd; Sanford, W. Ayshford; Reynolds, Sidney H. (1912). "British Pleistocene Hyænidæ, Ursidæ, Canidæ, and Mustelidæ". A Monograph of the British Pleistocene Mammalia. Vol. 2. London: Palaeontographical Society.
  2. ^ Cherin, Marco; Bertè, Davide F.; Rook, Lorenzo; Sardella, Raffaele (March 2014). "Re-Defining Canis etruscus (Canidae, Mammalia): A New Look into the Evolutionary History of Early Pleistocene Dogs Resulting from the Outstanding Fossil Record from Pantalla (Italy)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 21 (1): 95–110. doi:10.1007/s10914-013-9227-4. ISSN 1064-7554.
  3. ^ Bartolini Lucenti, Saverio; Bukhsianidze, Maia; Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido; Lordkipanidze, David (2020-05-15). "The Wolf From Dmanisi and Augmented Reality: Review, Implications, and Opportunities". Frontiers in Earth Science. 8: 131. Bibcode:2020FrEaS...8..131B. doi:10.3389/feart.2020.00131. hdl:2158/1205943. ISSN 2296-6463.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference musiani2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference schweizer2016a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference geffen2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference pilot2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference flower2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference leonard2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Iurino, Dawid A.; Mecozzi, Beniamino; Iannucci, Alessio; Moscarella, Alfio; Strani, Flavia; Bona, Fabio; Gaeta, Mario; Sardella, Raffaele (2022-02-25). "A Middle Pleistocene wolf from central Italy provides insights on the first occurrence of Canis lupus in Europe". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 2882. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-06812-5. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8881584.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference tedford2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference freedman2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference fan2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference skoglund2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Loog2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Bergström, Anders; Stanton, David W. G.; Taron, Ulrike H.; Frantz, Laurent; Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S.; Ersmark, Erik; Pfrengle, Saskia; Cassatt-Johnstone, Molly; Lebrasseur, Ophélie; Girdland-Flink, Linus; Fernandes, Daniel M.; Ollivier, Morgane; Speidel, Leo; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam; Westbury, Michael V. (2022-07-14). "Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs". Nature. 607 (7918): 313–320. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04824-9. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 9279150. PMID 35768506.