The South American foxes (''Lycalopex''), commonly called ''raposa'' in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, or ''zorro'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, are a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

of the subfamily

Caninae The Caninae, known as canines, are one of three subfamilies found within the canid family. The other two canid subfamilies are the extinct Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae. The Caninae includes all living canids and their most recent fossil rel ...

. Despite their name, they are not true foxes, but are a unique canid genus more closely related to wolves and jackals than to true foxes; some of them resemble foxes due to

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

. The

South American gray fox The South American gray fox (''Lycalopex griseus''), also known as the Patagonian fox, the chilla or the gray zorro, is a species of ''Lycalopex'', the "false" foxes. It is endemic to the southern part of South America. Description The South A ...

, ''Lycalopex griseus'', is the most common species, and is known for its large ears and a highly marketable, russet-fringed

pelt Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

. The second-oldest known fossils belonging to the genus were discovered in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, and date from 2.0 to 2.5 million years ago, in the mid- to late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Vorohué Formation of Argentina has provided older fossils, dating to the

Uquian The Uquian age is a period of geologic time (3.0–1.5 Ma) within the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs of the Neogene used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic t ...

Ensenadan The Ensenadan age is a period of geologic time (1.2–0.8 Ma) within the Early Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ...

(Late Pliocene).Vorohuen (sic; Vorohué) Formation
at Fossilworks.org

Names

The common English word "zorro" is a loan word from Spanish, with the word originally meaning "fox". Current usage lists ''Pseudalopex'' (literally: "false fox") as synonymous with ''Lycalopex'' ("wolf fox"), with the latter taking precedence. In 1895, Allen classified ''Pseudalopex'' as a subgenus of ''

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

'', establishing the combination ''Canis (Pseudalopex)'', a name still used in the fossil record.

Species

Species currently included in this genus include: In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established the genus ''

Dusicyon ''Dusicyon'' is an extinct genus of South American canids. The type species is ''Dusicyon australis'', the Falkland Islands wolf. In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established this genus, in which he included the culpeo and other South American foxes. ...

'', in which he included these zorros. They were later reclassified to ''Lycalopex'' (via ''Pseudalopex'') by Langguth in 1975.

Phylogeny

The following phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationships between the ''Lycalopex'' species, based on molecular analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences.

Relationship with humans

The zorros are hunted in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for their durable, soft pelts. They are also often labelled 'lamb-killers'. The ''

Fuegian dog The Fuegian dog ( es, perro yagán, perro fueguino), also known as the Yahgan dog, is an extinct domesticated canid. It was a domesticated form of the culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''). The culpeo is similar in build to true foxes (tribe Vulpini) b ...

'' ( es, perro yagán, perro fueguino), also known as the Yaghan dog, was a domesticated form of the

culpeo The culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''), also known as culpeo zorro, Andean zorro, Andean fox, Paramo wolf, Andean wolf,Comparative ecology of two South American foxes, 'Dusicvon ariseus' and 'culpaeus' by Warren E. Johnson. Doctoral dissertation. Io ...

(''Lycalopex culpaeus''), unlike other domesticated canids which were dogs and silver foxes. This means different canid species have been domesticated multiple times by humans independently.

Names

Species

Phylogeny

Relationship with humans

References

Further reading