The Zoochat Photographic Guide To Canids

Thought I might as well continue the series started by myself and @Chlidonias as a means of displaying the taxonomic representation of various mammalian taxa within the Zoochat gallery; once again this is intended to serve a number of purposes, including (hopefully) encouraging people who can fill in gaps to upload old photographs to the gallery and highlighting photographs located within the gallery worthy of discussion.

Like my discussion of the Felidae - but unlike my thread discussing small carnivores - this thread will display diversity at subspecific level wherever possible; this is mainly due to the fact that canine taxonomy is quite hotly debated, especially where the "wolf-like" lineage is concerned, and as such several taxa are variably recognized as subspecies or species.

 

CANIDAE


This family comprises three major lineages, along with a single basal lineage; these are as follows:

DOG-LIKE CANIDS - 12 species within four genera:

SOUTH AMERICAN CANIDS - 10 species within five genera

FOX-LIKE CANIDS - 15 species within three genera

GREY FOXES - 2 species within a single genus

(Each lineage name has been hyperlinked to the post within which it is discussed)

 

DOG-LIKE CANIDS


This lineage comprises 12 species within four genera:

Grey Wolf Canis lupus
Dingo Canis dingo
Red Wolf Canis rufus
Eastern Wolf Canis lycaon
Coyote Canis latrans
African Wolf Canis anthus
Golden Jackal Canis aureus
Ethiopian Wolf Canis simensis

Dhole Cuon alpinus

African Wild Dog Lycaon pictus

Side-striped Jackal Lupulella adustus
Black-backed Jackal Lupulella mesomelas

 

Grey Wolf (Canis lupus)

Historic range covered the vast majority of North America and Eurasia, barring Indochina and Peninsular Malaysia; extirpated from much of Western Europe, the United States and the Indian Subcontinent and entirely extirpated in Japan and Mexico. Current range focused on northern Eurasia, Canada and Alaska with smaller populations elsewhere.

24 extant subspecies have been proposed:

C. l. albus - photo by @Glutton



C. l. arabs - photo by @alexkant



C. l. campestris
C. l. chanco - photo by @devilfish



C. l. familiaris - photo by @devilfish



C. l. filchneri - photo by @Chlidonias



C. l. italicus
C. l. lupus - photo by @TeaLovingDave



C. l. pallipes - photo by @alexkant



C. l. signatus - photo by @Joker1706



C. l. arctos - photo by @skynymph



C. l. baileyi - photo by @Kyle's Creatures



C. l. columbianus
C. l. crassodon
C. l. hudsonicus - photo by @Mr Wrinkly



C. l. irremotus
C. l. labradorius
C. l. ligoni
C. l. mackenzii
C. l. manningi
C. l. occidentalis - photo by @Maguari



C. l. orion
C. l. pambasileus
C. l. tundrarum - photo by @alexkant

 

Dingo (Canis dingo)

The range of this species extends across Australia, New Guinea and the Sunda Islands.

Two subspecies are proposed:

C. d. dingo - photo by @Jabiru96



C. d. hallstromi - photo by @MagpieGoose

 

Red Wolf (Canis rufus)

The historic range of this species covered much of the southeastern United States, from northern Pennsylvania and southern New York to the Gulf of Mexico and central Texas; however subsequent to being extirpated across the entirety of its range a reintroduction programme restored a population in North Carolina.

Monotypic; formerly suggested to comprise three subspecies, of which two are extinct, but the genetic evidence for this is uncertain.

Photo by @ThylacineAlive

 

Eastern Wolf (Canis lycaon)

The range of this species extends across the northeastern side of North America's Great Lakes region as well as southeastern Canada; however it may have formerly extended across much more of eastern North America and intergraded with the Red Wolf in the south of its range.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species have been uploaded by Zoochatters at the time of writing.

 

Coyote (Canis latrans)

The original range of this species was restricted to the western United States, Central America and southwestern Canada; however with the extirpation of the Grey Wolf, Red Wolf and Eastern Wolf from large portions of North America the range of the species has substantially increased and it now extends across the vast majority of the continent, south as far as Panama and missing only from the extreme north-east of Canada.

19 subspecies proposed; many of these may comprise regional variants given the recent spread of the species into the areas in question.

C. l. latrans
C. l. cagottis - photo by @Adam Khor



C. l. clepticus
C. l. dickeyi
C. l. frustor - photo by @Ituri



C. l. goldmani
C. l. hondurensis
C. l. impavidus
C. l. incolatus
C. l. jamesi
C. l. lestes - photo by @Ituri



C. l. mearnsi - photo by @ThylacineAlive



C. l. microdon
C. l. ochropus
C. l. peninsulae
C. l. texensis - photo by @ThylacineAlive



C. l. thamnos
C. l. umpquensis
C. l. vigilis

Moreover, populations in the eastern United States and Canada comprise introgressive hybrids between C. latrans, C. lupus and C. lycaon:

Photo by @savethelephant

 

Oh, I've looked the only photograph in the gallery labelled as Canis lupus lycaon is an individual which is elsewhere identified as Canis lupus hudsonicus, with the latter being the correct identification. The odds are good there are photographs of impure wolves containing lycaon blood in the gallery, of course.

If you reckon you can do better than me, feel free to track a shot down and I shall edit my post accordingly.

 

African Wolf (Canis anthus)

The range of this species extends throughout north Africa, from Morocco in the west to Egypt in the east, and as far southeast as Tanzania.

Six subspecies proposed:

C. a. algirensis - photo by @Paradoxurus



C. a. anthus
C. a. bea - photo by @Hix



C. a. lupaster - photo by @Maguari



C. a. riparius
C. a. soudanicus

 

Yeah, the general taxonomic direction these days is to provisionally treat Canis dingo as a distinct species whilst retaining Canis lupus familiaris as a subspecies of Grey Wolf until such time as the overall "Grey Wolf" species complex is resolved, given the fact that it seems probable that a) the Grey Wolf comprises a number of taxa which merit species status and more importantly b) the modern domestic dog probably comprises a hybrid of several domestication events covering multiple species.

 

Golden Jackal (Canis aureus)

The range of this species extends throughout Central and south-east Europe, the Middle East and southern Asia, from southern Austria and northern Italy in the west to Indochina in the east. The population in Europe is expanding, with individuals reported as far west as the Netherlands and southeast France, and as far north as Estonia.

Seven subspecies proposed:

C. a. aureus - photo by @Nick@Amsterdam



C. a. cruesemanni - photo by @Chlidonias



C. a. ecsedensis
C. a. indicus - photo by @devilfish



C. a. moreoticus - photo by @Kowari



C. a. naria - photo by @Chlidonias



C. a. syriacus - photo by @alexkant

 

Ethiopian Jackal (Canis simensis)

The range of this species is restricted to the Ethiopian Highlands.

Two subspecies are recognised:

C. s. simensis
C. s. citernii - Photo by @Maguari

 

Dhole (Cuon alpinus)

The historic range of this species extended throughout the vast majority of south-central and eastern Asia, from Kazakhstan, Mongolia and southern Russia south through the Indian subcontinent into Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia. The current range is restricted to the southern portion of this area, from India in the west through south China and Indochina into Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia in the east.

Three subspecies are currently recognized:

C. a. alpinus - photo by @Dormitator



C. a. hesperius
C. a. sumatrensis

 

You're right actually I thought the two had been lumped together now but it seems they are still recognized. Will edit my post.

As for whether to call them a jackal or a wolf, I sometimes do one and sometimes the other

 

African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Five subspecies are recognised:

L. p. pictus - photo by @Maguari



L. p. lupinus
L. p. manguensis
L. p. sharicus
L. p. somalicus