Last edited Fri Mar 4, 2016, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)
Argument that the Red Wolf is a separate species:
http://www.fws.gov/redwolf/wolvesandcoyotes.html
Argument that the Red Wolf is a hybrid of Gray Wolves and Coyotes, but that it occurred at least 100 years ago and probably longer ago (The actual study on the DNA of Red Wolves indicated the earliest such hybrids developed was no earlier then 12,800 years ago, and one part of the study put that limit at 2500 years ago)
http://genepath.med.harvard.edu/~reich/Reich,%20Wayne%20and%20Goldstein.pdf
The evolutionary origin and relationships of the red wolf and Great Lakes wolf are controversial and clouded by admixture with related species (Supplemental Table S1). Our PCA and structure analyses suggest that the red wolf and Great Lakes wolf are genetically differentiated and are unlikely to share a common origin (FST = 0.11; Supplemental Table S3). In a plot of PC1 and PC2, red wolves are genetically similar to coyotes, and on PC2, Great Lakes wolves and Mexican wolves are more similar to North American gray wolves (Fig. 3).
structure analysis consistently assigned ∼80% of the red wolf genome to the coyote (light green) (Fig. 4), whereas about the same fraction of the Great Lakes wolf genome is assigned to the gray wolf (blue).
These contrasting patterns imply that red wolves are predominantly of coyote ancestry, possibly with limited historic hybridization with gray wolves. Moreover, assignments are more variable in Great Lakes wolves, ranging from about 50% to 100% gray wolf ancestry (Fig. 4), suggesting a more heterogeneous process of admixture, with some individuals largely free of coyote ancestry, especially in more western populations (Koblmüller et al. 2009; Rutledge et al. 2010a). Notably, the distinctive wolves of Algonquin Provincial Park in central Ontario that have the archetypical C1 mtDNA haplotype thought to be representative of the Great Lakes wolf taxon (Wilson et al. 2000; Kyle et al. 2006) have the largest proportion of their genome assigned to coyotes. Finally, in the full analysis, at K = 9 and K = 10, the red wolf (orange) and Great Lakes wolf (dark green), respectively, show a distinct genetic signature that appears analogous to subspecific partitions such as the Mexican wolf (Fig. 4) or other distinct regional populations of wolves (Supplemental Figs. S1–S3).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3149496/The Red wolf may be the result of a previous invasion of Coyotes into the Eastern US (during the time period where the Prairie extended almost to Pennsylvania). The movement of the Prairie eastward occured 4000 to 8000 years ago, and then retreated to Illinois after about 4000 years ago:
http://library.eri.nau.edu/gsdl/collect/erilibra/archives/HASH01c3/6a873096.dir/doc.pdf
Coyotes evolved as a small species of canines that lived on the small creatures that can survive in the Prairie (Jackals fill this role in the Middle East). Wolves also lived on the Prairies, but followed the herds of Bison, thus the two species had little interaction (the Coyotes avoided Bison, thus avoiding wolves, the Wolves only followed the Bison). Either during the movement of the Prairie eastward about 8000 years ago, or as it retreated, 4000 years ago, Coyotes and wolves interbreed and produced the Red Wolf of the America South.
Please note what is now called the Eastern Coyote, developed in the US Northeast as a product of 75% Coyote, 10% domestic dog and 25% Wolf. Thus has a similar DNA background as the Red Wolf, but developed within the last 150 years as opposed to 4000 years ago:
http://www.projectcoyote.org/newsreleases/news_eastern.html
Coyotes in the Northeast are mostly (60%-84%) coyote, with lesser amounts of wolf (8%-25%) and dog (8%-11%). Start moving south or east and this mixture slowly changes. Virginia animals average more dog than wolf (85%:2%:13% coyote:wolf:dog) while coyotes from the Deep South had just a dash of wolf and dog genes mixed in (91%:4%:5% coyote:wolf:dog).....
Their DNA show that about 100 years ago, coyotes mated with wolves, and about 50 years ago with dogs.
http://earthsky.org/earth/eastern-coyotes-a-hybrid-but-coywolf-is-not-a-thingThus the debate, is the Red Wolf a separate species or just an earlier version of what is now called the Eastern Coyote? If the Red Wolf is a separate species, it comes under the Endangered Species Act. If it is a hybrid, it does NOT come under that act (Coyotes are NOT endangered, neither are domestic dogs, through the Eastern Wolf is). Thus the debate on what is the Red Wolf determines its level of protection under the endangered Species Act.
Please note some observers believe the Red Wolf is newer then the 4000 year ago retreat of the Prairie. i.e. a product of Coyotes moving into former Wolf areas as the White Settlement moved West starting in the early 1800s. The DNA studies do NOT cut out that possibility. THE DNA Studies only show the MAX age of the intermixing, not that that it occurred then or more recently.
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