Armbruster's wolf
| Armbruster's wolf Temporal range:
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| Species: | †C. armbrusteri
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| †Canis armbrusteri J. W. Gidley, 1913
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| Range of Armbruster's wolf based on fossil distribution | |
Armbruster's wolf (Canis armbrusteri) is an extinct species of canid which was endemic to North America and lived during the Irvingtonian stage of the Pleistocene epoch 1.8 Mya—300,000 years ago, existing for approximately 1.5 million years.[1]
Origin
Canis armbrusteri may have evolved from C. chihliensis in Asia (Tedford, Wang, 182). C. armbrusteri first appears in the Early Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) in the southwestern United States. Remains are often found within the rock strata containing mammoth. C. dirus, the dire wolf, is thought to have evolved from C. armbrusteri in North America.[2] C. armbrusteri was displaced in the middle section of the continent by the dire wolf, with C. armbrusteri pushed southeastward until the Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean stage) in Florida.[3]
Taxonomy
Canis armbrusteri was named by J. W. Gidley in 1913. The first fossils were uncovered at Cumberland Bone Cave, Maryland, in an Irvingtonian terrestrial horizon. Fossil distribution is widespread throughout the U.S.[4]
Armbruster's wolf is considered a sister species of the dire wolf, one of the most recent evolutionary relatives of the modern wolf, differing from the gray wolf and dire wolf by a narrower skull. It is considered to be the closest relative to Canis falconeri.
References
- ^ PaleoBiology Database: Canis armbrusteri, age range and collections. Paleodb.org. Retrieved on 2012-12-31.
- ^ Tedford, Richard H.; Wang, Xiaoming; Taylor, Beryl E. (2009). "Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (Carnivora, Canidae)" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 325: 218. doi:10.1206/574.1. hdl:2246/5999.
- ^ "Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (Carnivora, Canidae)" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 325: 1. 2009. doi:10.1206/574.1. hdl:2246/5999.
{{cite journal}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter|authors=(help) - ^ PaleoBiology Database: ''Canis armbrusteri,'' fossil map. Paleodb.org. Retrieved on 2012-12-31.