‘Golden Wolf’ Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight

From all of the DNA evidence they collected, a different story of the canids’ evolutionary past emerged.

The researchers have named this previously unrecognized species the African golden wolf. Even though they resemble Canis aureus, those found in Africa have more genetically in common with gray wolves, leading researchers to propose a new scientific name: the African golden wolf, or Canis anthus.

Scientists from Russian Federation and the United States have published a study in the journal Current Biology which suggests that the African golden jackal may not really be a jackal after all, but a wolf because it is very different from other golden jackals found throughout Europe. Four individuals were used each for gray wolf, golden jackal (Africa), and golden jackal (Eurasia), and two individuals were used for coyote.

The two species are quite similar in body size, wolf-like build, head shape, teeth and fur color.

Scientists have uncovered DNA evidence that the golden jackals originating from East Africa and Eurasia might look nearly similar to each other but are apparently two different species. “The Eurasian golden jackal lineage, however, split about 600,000 years prior to that”.

“This represents the first discovery of a “new” canid species in Africa in over 150 years”, says Koepfli.

The discovering raises the variety of dwelling species within the mammalian household referred to as Canidae, which incorporates canine, wolves, foxes, coyotes and jackals, to 36 from 35. Indeed, when Koepfli, Wayne, and their colleagues analyzed their entire genomes and compared them to golden jackals elsewhere throughout their known range and to gray wolves and coyotes, they found that golden jackals and the now-golden wolves have been evolving separately for at least a million years.

The discovery came about when researchers looked at the jackal’s DNA, revealing that African and Eurasian golden jackals were distinct across all the genetic markers, including data from whole genomes, Reuters reports.

Since the previous analysis was restricted to mitochondrial DNA, which is passed along via the maternal lineage, Wayne and Koepfli decided to dig deeper. However, University of Oxford bioarchaeologist Greger Larson said in an interview that he is fully convinced by the recent study, calling the data “phenomenal” and the study a “super airtight case”.

According to Koepfli what should be learned from this study is the fact that hidden biodiversity can be found even when one deals with widespread species such as the golden jackal.