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 dentition, long legs, and comparatively short ears and tails.
Taxonomy
The genus Canis (Carl Linnaeus, 1758) was published in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae and included the dog-like carnivores: the domestic dog, wolves, coyotes and jackals. All species within Canis are phylogenetically closely related with 78 chromosomes and can potentially interbreed. In 1926, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) in Opinion 91 included Genus Canis on its Official Lists and Indexes of Names in Zoology. In 1955, the ICZN's Direction 22 added Canis familiaris as the type species for genus Canis to the official list.
The cladogram below is based on the DNA phylogeny of Lindblad-Toh et al. (2005), modified to incorporate recent findings on Canis species,
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Canis
Canis latrans (coyote)
Canis rufus (red wolf)
Canis lycaon (eastern wolf)
Extant Canis lupus (gray wolf)
Canis familiaris (domestic dog)
Canis lupaster (African wolf)
Canis simensis (Ethiopian wolf)
Canis aureus (golden jackal)
In 2019, a workshop hosted by the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group recommends that because DNA evidence shows the side-striped jackal (Canis adustus) and black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) to form a monophyletic lineage that sits outside of the Canis/Cuon/Lycaon clade, that they should be placed in a distinct genus, Lupulella Hilzheimer, 1906 with the names Lupulella adusta and Lupulella mesomelas.
The fossil record shows that feliforms and caniforms emerged within...
