''Canis edwardii'', also known as Edward's wolf, is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of wolf in the genus ''

Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-devel ...

'' which was endemic to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the C ...

three million years ago from the Late

Blancan The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years BP, a period of .Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Irvingtonian The Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), spanning from 1.9 million – 250,000 years BP.

stage of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

epoch.

Taxonomy

''Canis edwardii'' was named by Gazin in 1942. Xiaoming Wang and

Richard H. Tedford Richard Hall Tedford (April 25, 1929 – July 15, 2011) was Curator Emeritus in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, having been named as curator in 1969.Staff"14 ARE APPOINTED AT MU ...

proposed that the genus ''Canis'' was the descendant of the coyote-like ''

Eucyon ''Eucyon'' (Greek: : good, true; : dog) is an extinct genus of medium omnivorous coyote-like canid that first appeared in the Western United States during the late Middle Miocene 10 million years ago. It was the size of a jackal and weighed ar ...

davisi'' and its remains first appeared in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

(6 Mya) in the Southwestern USA and Mexico. By the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Canis lepophagus ''Canis lepophagus'' (Latin: : 'dog'; : 'hare' or 'rabbit'; suffix : '-eating'; hence hare-eating dog) is an extinct species of canid which was endemic to much of North America during the Early Pliocene. It is notable because its lineage is prop ...

'' appeared in the same region, and by the

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time ...

(1 Mya) ''Canis latrans'' (the

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological n ...

) was in existence. They proposed that the progression from ''Eucyon davisi'' to ''C. lepophagus'' to the coyote was linear evolution. Additionally, ''C. edwardii'', ''C. latrans'', and ''C. aureus'' thought to have formed a small clade together and because ''C. edwardii'' appeared earliest, spanning the mid-Blancan (late Pliocene) to the close of the Irvingtonian (late Pleistocene) it is proposed as the ancestor.

''Canis priscolatrans''

Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene in North America. The first definite wolf appeared in the Late

Blancan The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years BP, a period of .Irvingtonian The Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), spanning from 1.9 million – 250,000 years BP.

, and named ''C. priscolatrans'' that was either very close to or a synonym for ''Canis edwardii''. It resembled ''C. rufus'' in cranial size and proportions but with more complex dentition. However, there are no fossils of ''C. rufus'' until the Late Rancholabrean.

Björn Kurtén Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén (19 November 1924 – 28 December 1988) was a Finnish vertebrate paleontologist, belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of his country. Early life and education Kurtén was born in Vaasa. Career He was a profe ...

was uncertain if ''C. priscolatrans'' derived from ''C. lepophagus'' and ''C. arnensis'', but believed that ''C. priscolatrans'' was a population of large coyotes that were ancestral to

Rancholabrean The Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from less than 240,000 years to 11,000 years BP, a ...

and recent ''C. latrans''. He noted that ''C. arnensis'' of Europe showed striking similarities to ''C. priscolatrans'', and they could represent what once was a holarctic population of coyotes. R. M. Nowak disagreed, and believed that ''C. priscolatrans'' was a counterpart to the European ''C. etruscus''. Kurtén later proposed that both ''C. priscolatrans'' and ''C. etruscus'' were part of a group which led to ''C. lupus'', but was not sure if they evolved separately from ''C. lepophagus'' or a possible common ancestor that was derived from ''C. lepophagus''. The remains of the larger coyote-like ''C. edwardii'' have been found in the later

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

'').

Description

''C. edwardii'' was larger than ''C. latrans'' and differs in skull and some tooth proportions. , under this idea ''C.edwardii'' was a modest sized canid. A study of isotopes showed ''C. edwardii'' had a dietary overlap with the saber toothed cat Smilodon Gracilis, the large size of Smilodon Gracilis and its similar sized prey implied ''C. edwardii'' might have hunted in packs due to the size of the prey included in the study.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3661310 Wolves Prehistoric canines Pliocene mammals of North America Pleistocene carnivorans Pliocene first appearances Pleistocene species extinctions Pleistocene mammals of North America Fossil taxa described in 1942