The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal and Is Not Endemic to Egypt

Abstract

The Egyptian jackal (Canis aureus lupaster) has hitherto been considered a large, rare subspecies of the golden jackal (C. aureus). It has maintained its taxonomical status to date, despite studies demonstrating morphological similarities to the grey wolf (C. lupus). We have analyzed 2055 bp of mitochondrial DNA from C. a. lupaster and investigated the similarity to C. aureus and C. lupus. Through phylogenetic comparison with all wild wolf-like canids (based on 726 bp of the Cytochrome b gene) we conclusively (100% bootstrap support) place the Egyptian jackal within the grey wolf species complex, together with the Holarctic wolf, the Indian wolf and the Himalayan wolf. Like the two latter taxa, C. a. lupaster seems to represent an ancient wolf lineage which most likely colonized Africa prior to the northern hemisphere radiation. We thus refer to C. a. lupaster as the African wolf. Furthermore, we have detected C. a. lupaster individuals at two localities in the Ethiopian highlands, extending the distribution by at least 2,500 km southeast. The only grey wolf species to inhabit the African continent is a cryptic species for which the conservation status urgently needs assessment.

Rediscovering a forgotten canid species

“…Previous authors have alternated between Canis lupaster (e.g., [13,14,38]) and Canis anthus [13]. Of these, C. anthus F. Cuvier, 1820 [10] has priority.…”

“…Recent publications [13][14][15] have identified this animal as a separate species, more closely related to the Holarctic grey wolf than to the golden jackal. Gaubert et al [13] suggested the existence of both the golden jackal and African wolf in North and West Africa.…”

“…The presence of a wolf relative in North and West Africa was indicated in the early literature [9][10][11][12], but until recently [13][14][15] largely ignored in the modern literature. Here we demonstrate the presence of a species closely related to the Holarctic wolf in Africa and discuss its taxonomic status and morphology.…”

“…They also identified some morphological traits and provided evidence for apparent convergent evolution having resulted in the similarity of the golden jackal and African wolf. Rueness et al [14] concluded, based on yet another sample of mtDNA, that the African wolf is a separate species, more closely related to the grey wolf than to the golden jackal.…”

Unregulated hunting and genetic recovery from a severe population decline: the cautionary case of Bulgarian wolves

“…The range of grey wolves and golden jackals overlaps in southern Asia, Middle East, and the Balkans, and no hybridisation studies were performed in the areas where these two species coexist. Some north African canids originally classified as golden jackals (C. aureus) were shown to carry mtDNA haplotypes falling within the grey wolf clade (Rueness et al 2011;Gaubert et al 2012). This was interpreted as a taxonomic misidentification, but could also result from hybridisation and introgression of grey wolf mtDNA into golden jackal populations; analysis of nuclear DNA is needed to clarify this.…”