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Dire wolves were the last of an ancient New World canid lineage

Author

Listed:
  • Angela R. Perri

    (Durham University)

  • Kieren J. Mitchell

    (University of Adelaide)

  • Alice Mouton

    (University of California)

  • Sandra Álvarez-Carretero

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Ardern Hulme-Beaman

    (University of Liverpool
    Liverpool John Moores University)

  • James Haile

    (The University of Oxford)

  • Alexandra Jamieson

    (The University of Oxford)

  • Julie Meachen

    (Des Moines University)

  • Audrey T. Lin

    (The University of Oxford
    University of Oxford
    Smithsonian Institution)

  • Blaine W. Schubert

    (East Tennessee State University)

  • Carly Ameen

    (University of Exeter)

  • Ekaterina E. Antipina

    (Russian Academy of Sciences)

  • Pere Bover

    (Universidad de Zaragoza)

  • Selina Brace

    (Natural History Museum)

  • Alberto Carmagnini

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Christian Carøe

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Jose A. Samaniego Castruita

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • James C. Chatters

    (Applied Paleoscience)

  • Keith Dobney

    (University of Liverpool
    Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney
    University of Aberdeen
    Simon Fraser University)

  • Mario Reis

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Allowen Evin

    (Université de Montpellier, IRD, EPHE)

  • Philippe Gaubert

    (Université Paul Sabatier)

  • Shyam Gopalakrishnan

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Graham Gower

    (University of Adelaide)

  • Holly Heiniger

    (University of Adelaide)

  • Kristofer M. Helgen

    (Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum)

  • Josh Kapp

    (University of California Santa Cruz)

  • Pavel A. Kosintsev

    (Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
    Ural Federal University)

  • Anna Linderholm

    (The University of Oxford
    Texas A&M University)

  • Andrew T. Ozga

    (Arizona State University
    Arizona State University
    Nova Southeastern University)

  • Samantha Presslee

    (University of York)

  • Alexander T. Salis

    (University of Adelaide)

  • Nedda F. Saremi

    (University of California Santa Cruz)

  • Colin Shew

    (University of California)

  • Katherine Skerry

    (Arizona State University)

  • Dmitry E. Taranenko

    (Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

  • Mary Thompson

    (Idaho State University)

  • Mikhail V. Sablin

    (Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

  • Yaroslav V. Kuzmin

    (Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
    Tomsk State University)

  • Matthew J. Collins

    (University of Copenhagen
    University of Cambridge)

  • Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding

    (University of Copenhagen
    Greenland Institute of Natural Resources)

  • M. Thomas P. Gilbert

    (University of Copenhagen
    NTNU University Museum)

  • Anne C. Stone

    (Arizona State University
    Arizona State University
    Arizona State University)

  • Beth Shapiro

    (University of California Santa Cruz
    University of California Santa Cruz)

  • Blaire Valkenburgh

    (University of California)

  • Robert K. Wayne

    (University of California)

  • Greger Larson

    (The University of Oxford)

  • Alan Cooper

    (South Australian Museum)

  • Laurent A. F. Frantz

    (Queen Mary University of London
    Ludwig Maximilian University)

Abstract

Dire wolves are considered to be one of the most common and widespread large carnivores in Pleistocene America1, yet relatively little is known about their evolution or extinction. Here, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of dire wolves, we sequenced five genomes from sub-fossil remains dating from 13,000 to more than 50,000 years ago. Our results indicate that although they were similar morphologically to the extant grey wolf, dire wolves were a highly divergent lineage that split from living canids around 5.7 million years ago. In contrast to numerous examples of hybridization across Canidae2,3, there is no evidence for gene flow between dire wolves and either North American grey wolves or coyotes. This suggests that dire wolves evolved in isolation from the Pleistocene ancestors of these species. Our results also support an early New World origin of dire wolves, while the ancestors of grey wolves, coyotes and dholes evolved in Eurasia and colonized North America only relatively recently.

Suggested Citation

  • Angela R. Perri & Kieren J. Mitchell & Alice Mouton & Sandra Álvarez-Carretero & Ardern Hulme-Beaman & James Haile & Alexandra Jamieson & Julie Meachen & Audrey T. Lin & Blaine W. Schubert & Carly Ame, 2021. "Dire wolves were the last of an ancient New World canid lineage," Nature, Nature, vol. 591(7848), pages 87-91, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:591:y:2021:i:7848:d:10.1038_s41586-020-03082-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03082-x
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