Is the African golden jackal really a previously unknown species of wolf? New research suggests that it might be. Are there any African golden jackals (wolves?) in zoos? Meet the First New Canine Found in 150 Years
I'd like to know what makes it a wolf and not a jackal? I'm also a little sceptical of the article as it says "Africa is also home to two other wolf species - the Gray Wolf and the Ethiopian Wolf". The link supplied then clearly names the Ethiopian as the only wolf in Africa. Hix
Given that the 'golden jackal' has a continuous range through North Africa and the Middle East, i'm wondering where the divide between the two species is, and if there's any overlap in their ranges? possible naturally-occurring hybrids?
Actually, having read the full paper (linked to by jbnbsn99 above) the first figure - a cladogram - included several individuals referenced as Canis lupus lupaster and were from North African localities. In the caption it said Canis lupus lupaster was "the African Wolf". Google this scientific name produced more information - on the Egyptian Wolf and the Senegalese Wolf. Apparently the Golden Jackal subspecies in North Africa has been recently thought to be more closely linked with the gray wolf. This study confirms that, and suggests the Egyptian is a subspecies of Gray wolf, and the Senegalese is the nominate of the African Golden Wolf. This maybe where the journalist got the idea of there being gray wolves in Africa. Hix
I believe the cladogram only uses the term "Canis lupus lupaster" as it is the currently-accepted name for the taxon - it appears from the cladogram and subsequent discussion that they are suggesting lupaster is a junior synonym for the new taxon Canis anthus, with any differences between the populations being due to hybridisation between anthus and aureus in the Middle East:
I think the names in the cladogram only refer to the names of the samples they used and have no bearing on actual nomenclature. Looking at that cladogram, it seems to show Canis chanco as being a distinct species as well.
I'm just surprised this is making the news now; this reclassification was already proposed several years ago. The article by Koepfli et al directly references to this, too, and considers its results as another confirmation of the hypothesis proposed by Rueness et al in 2011 and Gaubert et al. in 2012. http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(15)00787-3 PLOS ONE: The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal and Is Not Endemic to Egypt
Possibly because he hasn't yet been widely acknowledged. ITIS, IUCN and Catalogue of Life still list anthus and lupaster to be a subspecies of aureus. Hix
The proposal made several years ago, in the PLoS ONE paper you linked to, was not quite the same as the proposal made now; the former proposal suggested that lupaster belongs within Canis lupus, whilst the latter suggests that lupaster and anthus belong outside Canis lupus. Interestingly, if one supports the suggestion that this new taxon is valid, the phylogenetic tree in the PLoS ONE paper rather suggests that the long-mooted split of Canis lupus pallipes and Canis lupus chanco into full species should also take place.
