Dusicyon

Dusicyon is an extinct genus of South American canids.

Dusicyon[1] Temporal range: Late Pliocene to recent
Falkland Islands wolf and D. avus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	Caninae
Tribe:	Canini
Genus:	†Dusicyon C. E. H. Smith, 1839[2]
Type species
Canis australis Kerr, 1792
Species
Dusicyon australis Dusicyon avus Dusicyon cultridens

Taxonomy

The type species is Dusicyon australis, the Falkland Islands wolf. In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established this genus, in which he included the culpeo and other South American foxes. These other canids were removed to Lycalopex by Langguth in 1975.^[3] There is still much debate about the classification of Dusicyon cultridens. It has been suggested that this species be placed in the genera Canis or Lycalopex. This debate makes D. cultridens poorly researched.^{[citation needed]}

Extinctions

Dusicyon avus, widely distributed in the late Pleistocene from Uruguay through Buenos Aires Province to southernmost Chile, is the closest known relative of the Falkland Islands wolf; the two lineages split only about 16,000 years ago.^[4] It died out in the late Holocene, earlier estimates suggested about 2,980 years ago on the island of Tierra del Fuego and almost 1,700 years ago in the continent.^[5] More recent research confirms much later extinction dates, with the latest confirmed records in the Pampean Region being 700 BP (1232–1397 AD) and southernmost Patagonia at 400 years BP (1454–1626 AD).^[6]

References

1. Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Dusicyon". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 579. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
2. Jardine's Natur. Libr., 9: 248.
3. Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Lycalopex". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 579–581. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
4. Cooper, A.; Mena, F.; Austin, J. J.; Soubrier, J.; Prevosti, F.; Prates, L.; Trejo, V. (2013). "The origin of the enigmatic Falkland Islands wolf". Nature Communications. 4: 1552. Bibcode:2013NatCo...4.1552A. doi:10.1038/ncomms2570. hdl:2440/74885. PMID 23462995. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
5. Constraining the time of extinction of the South American fox Dusicyon avus (Carnivora, Canidae) during the late Holocene. Francisco Prevosti, Fernando Santiago, Luciano Prates, Mónica Salemme, and Fabiana Martin. Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 12, EGU2010-577-1, 2010. EGU General Assembly 2010 http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/EGU2010-577-1.pdf
6. Prevosti, Francisco J.; Ramírez, Mariano A.; Schiaffini, Mauro; Martin, Fabiana; Udrizar Sauthier, Daniel E.; Carrera, Marcelo; Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio; Pardiñas, Ulyses F. J. (November 2015). "Extinctions in near time: new radiocarbon dates point to a very recent disappearance of the South American fox Dusicyon avus (Carnivora: Canidae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 116 (3): 704–720. doi:10.1111/bij.12625. hdl:11336/46106.

External links

(Lycalopex mentioned as Dusicyon) THE DANGEROUS WILD ANIMALS ACT 1976 (MODIFICATION) (NO.2) ORDER 2007. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/2465/schedule/made accessed 26 March 2014.