''Canis nehringi'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

canid Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within the ...

. ''Canis gezi'', a poorly known small wolf from the

Ensenadan The Ensenadan age is a period of geologic time (1.2–0.8 Ma) within the Early Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, appears to have given rise to ''Canis nehringi'', a

Lujanian The Lujanian age is a South American land mammal age within the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs of the Neogene, from 0.8–0.011 Ma or 800–11 tya. It follows the Ensenadan. The age is usually divided into the middle Pleistocene Bonaerian stag ...

species from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Betra's analysis in 1988, places ''

Canis dirus ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and den ...

'' and ''Canis nehringi'' as sister taxa and as the most derived members of the genus ''Canis'' in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. The species was first described by

Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially ...

in 1902.Prevosti et al., 2004, p.32

''Canis gezi''

''Canis dirus'' made its appearance in South America in the late Pleistocene, and seems to have been restricted to the north and west coasts. Its remains have not been found in the area of Argentina that produced ''Canis gezi'' and ''Canis nehringi'', and their remains have not been found elsewhere in South America. Some researchers have proposed that ''Canis dirus'' may have originated in South America. In 1988, a study of these two large South American wolves described them with ''Canis gezi'' found in South American

deposits that relate to the North American late

Blancan The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years Before Present, BP, a period of .

and

Irvingtonian The Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), spanning from 1.9 million – 250,000 years BP. ...

, and ''Canis nehringi'' found in South American

deposits of the Lujan Formation that relate to the Late Pleistocene. Given their similarities and timeframes, it was proposed that ''Canis gezi'' was the ancestor of ''Canis nehringi''. The study indicated that ''Canis gezi'' was most similar to the late Irvingtonian ''Aenocyon dirus nebrascensis'' (proposed early Dire wolf) and was its sister taxa, but ''Canis nehringi'' had a closer relationship to Rancholabrean ''Canis dirus''. The study found that ''Canis dirus'' was the most derived genus ''Canis'' species in the New World, and compared to ''Canis nehringi'' was larger in size and construction of its lower molars that were increased for more efficient predation.Berta, A. 1988. Quaternary evolution and biogeography of the large South American Canidae (Mammalia: Carnivora). University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 132:1–49. In 2009, Tedford proposed that because there was now seen a link between ''Canis armbrusteri'' and the Rancholabrean ''Canis dirus'', that a case could be argued for a collateral South American lineage linking ''Canis gezi'' with ''Canis nehringi''. These two clades share dental and cranial similarities developed for hypercarnivory, suggesting a common ancestor for both clades. In 2010, a study found that DNA analysis and the dental characteristics of South America hypercanivorous canids showed a "South American clade" and the ''Canis'' clade. ''Canis gezi'' was a member of the "South American clade" of carnivores, but ''Canis dirus'' and ''Canis nehringi'' were included as derived species in the ''Canis'' clade. ''Canis dirus'' was the sister taxon of ''Canis lupus'', but the scientific scoring used in this study for ''Canis nehringi'' was identical to those observed in ''Canis dirus'', which supports the proposal that both could have been the same species. In 2018, a study found that ''Canis gezi'' did not fall under genus ''Canis'' and should be classified under the subtribe

Cerdocyonina Cerdocyonina is an extant subtribe of the canines and is exclusively endemic to the Americas. Often described to be "fox-like" in appearance and behavior, they are more closely related to the wolf-like canids such as ''Canis'' than they are to t ...

, however no genus was proposed.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5032445 Prehistoric canines Pleistocene carnivorans Pleistocene mammals of South America Lujanian Pleistocene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1902 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino