The European dhole (''Cuon alpinus europaeus'') was a

paleosubspecies A chronospecies is a species derived from a sequential development pattern that involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale. The sequence of alterations eventually produces a population that is p ...

of the

dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...

, which ranged throughout much of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

during the Middle and

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...

. Like the modern Asiatic populations, it was a more progressive form than other prehistoric members of the genus ''Cuon'', having transformed its lower molar tooth into a single cusped slicer. It was virtually indistinguishable from its modern counterpart, save for its greater size, which closely approached that of the

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...

.Kurtén, Björn (1968), ''Pleistocene mammals of Europe'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, pp. 111-114

Lineage

''Cuon alpinus priscus'' Thenius 1954 was the first member of genus ''Cuon'' to be identified in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene. This was followed by ''Cuon alpinus fossilis'' Nehring 1890, then ''Cuon alpinus europaeus'' Bourguignat 1868 during the Middle and

. The descent is thought to be ''C. a. priscus→C. a. fossilis→C. a. europaeus''. In comparison, ''Cuon alpinus antiquus'' Colbert & Hooijer 1953 was active in the Middle Pleistocene of China, and ''Cuon alpinus caucasicus'' Baryshnikov 1996 was active in the Late Pleistocene of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

. The European dhole became extinct in much of Europe during the late

Würm The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. The length of the river is , or including the ''Steinbach'', the main feed of Lake Starnberg. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villag ...

period, though it may have survived in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

until the early

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

Competition

Between 650–450 thousand years ago in Europe, the open lands were dominated by '' Lycaon lycaonoides'', while Cuon alpinus priscus preferred forests, highlands, and mountains. The early small wolf ''

Canis mosbachensis ''Canis mosbachensis'', sometimes known as the Mosbach wolf, is an extinct small wolf that once inhabited Eurasia from the Middle Pleistocene era to the Late Pleistocene. It is widely accepted as the ancestor of '' Canis lupus'', the grey wolf. ...

'' coexisted in all of these environments. Between 480–430 thousand years ago the number and range of ''L. lycaonoides'' began to fall, and it became extinct across Eurasia between 450– 400 thousand years ago. Between 400–300 thousand years ago, the dhole and the wolf were still similar in size, but the wolf was slowly getting bigger. Between 300–250 thousand years ago, the wolf took over the dominant niche which had once been occupied by ''L. lycaonoides''. Due to competition with the wolf, ''C. alpinus'' then decreased in body size and adapted to hunting and living in forests, highlands, and mountains.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18926249 Pleistocene carnivorans Pleistocene extinctions Prehistoric canines Prehistoric mammals of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1868 Canines