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Eastern wolf

 

The eastern wolf has generally been classified as belonging to the Eurasian-evolved gray wolf (Canis lupus), with the subspecies Canis lupus lycaon occupying the deciduous forests of eastern North America1,2,3. The eastern wolf was recently proposed as a separate species (Canis lycaon) that evolved in North America and shared a common lineage with the coyote (Canis latrans) until about150,000 - 300,000 years ago4. It has thus been suggested that the eastern wolf evolved in North America independently from the gray wolf, which is believed to have immigrated to North America during the Pleistocene glaciations approximately 300,000 years ago5. For genetic research on North American canids, the term Old World (OW) is therefore used for genotypes that group with the gray wolf, whereas New World (NW) genotypes denote those belonging to coyotes, eastern wolves and red wolves.
The range of the eastern wolf is not well delineated, but its known range in Canada extends from Manitoba to Quebec1,6, and may also include several of the Great Lakes states of the US. It has also been proposed that the eastern wolf and the red wolf (Canis rufus) of the eastern United States may be the same species6, in which case the range of this canid would extend further south and east, including North Carolina where the red wolf was reintroduced in 19877 after being officially declared extinct in the wild in 1980.
The eastern wolf is currently listed as a Species of Concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), and major limiting factors are considered to be prey availability and harvest (trapping and hunting) mortality8. Much of the eastern wolf range has been affected by intense human development, where the replacement of large ungulates with smaller and medium-sized prey such as beavers (Castor canadensis) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) may have played, and continue to play, an important role in canid hybridization9,10,11.
The eastern wolf hybridizes with both gray wolves and coyotes, with gray wolf-eastern wolves being frequent in northern Ontario and with eastern wolf – coyote hybrids being more common in southeastern Ontario12. This hybridization may be both historic and ongoing, and Wilson et al. (2009) suggest that eastern wolves may in fact be replacing gray wolves through part of their range. The history and causes of hybridization involving C.latrans, C. lycaon and C.lupus is currently debated13 and have important implication for conservation management, species at risk-designations, as well as any future wolf reintroduction programs within the hybrid zone.
Prepared for the Canadian Wolf Coalition by Astrid Vik Stronen, 2009.
References:

 

1) Kolenosky, G.B., R.O. Stanfield. 1975. Morphological and ecological variation among gray wolves (Canis lupus)

of Ontario, Canada. Pp. 62 - 72 in Fox, M.W. (ed). The Wild Canids: Their Systematics, Behavioural Ecology
and Evolution. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY.
2) Brewster, W.G., S.H. Fritts. 1995. Taxonomy and genetics of the gray wolf in western North America: A review. Pp. 353 - 374 in Carbyn, L.N., S.H. Fritts and D.R. Seip (eds.). Ecology and Conservation of Wolves in a Changing
World. Canadian Circumpolar Institute, Occasional Publication No. 35. 642 pp.
3) Nowak, R.M. 1995. Another look at wolf taxonomy. Pp. 375 - 398 in Carbyn, L.N., S.H. Fritts and D.R. Seip (eds.).
Ecology and conservation of wolves in a changing world. Canadian Circumpolar Institute, Occasional Publication No. 35. 642 pp.
4) Wilson, P.J, S. Grewal, I.D. Lawford, J.N.M. Heal, A.G. Granacki, D.Pennock, J.B. Theberge, M.T. Theberge, D.R. Voigt, W. Waddell, R.E. Chambers, P.C. Paquet, G. Goulet, D. Cluff, and B.N. White. 2000. DNA profiles of the eastern Canadian wolf and the red wolf provide evidence for a common evolutionary history independent of the gray wolf. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78: 2156-2166.
5) Kurtén, B., E. Anderson. 1980. Pleistocene mammals of North America. Columbia University Press, New York. NY. 442 pp.
6) Grewal, S.K., P.J. Wilson, T.K. Kung, K. Shami, M.T. Therberge, J.B. Theberge, B.N. White. 2004. A genetic
assessment of the eastern wolf (Canis lycaon) in Algonquin Provincial Park. Journal of Mammalogy 85(4): 625–
632.
7) Phillips, M.K, V.G. Henry, and B.T. Kelly. 2003. Restoration of the red Wolf. Pp 272 – 288 in Mech, L.D. and L. Boitani (eds.). Wolves: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 448 pp.
8) COSEWIC 2001. COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the eastern wolf Canis lupus lycaon in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi+ 17pp.

 

9) Schmitz, O.J., D.M. Lavigne. 1987. Factors affecting body size in sympatric Ontario Canis. Journal of Mammalogy, 68(1): 92–99.
10) Lehman, N., A. Eisenhawer, K. Hansen, D. Mech, P.O. Peterson, P.J.P. Gogan, R.K. Wayne. 1991. Introgression of coyote mitochondrial DNA into sympatric North American gray wolf populations. Evolution, 45(1): 104 – 119.
11) Sears, H.J., J.B. Theberge, M.T. Theberge, I. Thornton, and G.D. Campbell. 2003. Landscape influence on Canis morphological and ecological variation in a coyote – wolf C. lupus x latrans hybrid zone, southeastern Ontario. Canadian Field Naturalist, 117(4): 591–600.
12) Wilson, P.J., S.K. Grewal, F.F. Mallory, and B.N. White. 2009. Genetic characterization of hybrid wolves across Ontario. Journal of Heredity, doi: 10.1093/jhered-esp034
13) Wheeldon, T., B.N. White. 2008. Genetic analysis of historic western Great Lakes region wolf samples reveal
early Canis lupus/lycaon hybridization. Biology Letters. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0516.