Abstract
Pleistocene diversity was much higher than today, for example there were three distinct wolf morphotypes (dire, gray, Beringian) in North America versus one today (gray). Previous fossil evidence suggested that these three groups overlapped ecologically, but split the landscape geographically. The Natural Trap Cave (NTC) fossil site in Wyoming, USA is an ideally placed late Pleistocene site to study the geographical movement of species from northern to middle North America before, during, and after the last glacial maximum. Until now, it has been unclear what type of wolf was present at NTC. We analyzed morphometrics of three wolf groups (dire, extant North American gray, Alaskan Beringian) to determine which wolves were present at NTC and what this indicates about wolf diversity and migration in Pleistocene North America. Results show NTC wolves group with Alaskan Beringian wolves. This provides the first morphological evidence for Beringian wolves in mid‐continental North America. Their location at NTC and their radiocarbon ages suggest that they followed a temporary channel through the glaciers. Results suggest high levels of competition and diversity in Pleistocene North American wolves. The presence of mid‐continental Beringian morphotypes adds important data for untangling the history of immigration and evolution of Canis in North America.
Highlights
The late Pleistocene fauna in North America was different and more diverse than it is today
The dire wolf (Canis dirus) was an iconic canid species that is often associated with the Ice Age, and unlike its close relative the gray wolf (Canis lupus) which came from Eurasia, the dire wolf arose in North America and is endemic to the Americas (Wang and Tedford 2008; Tedford et al 2009)
Results of the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) on the principal component scores show that Natural Trap Cave (NTC) wolves and Beringian wolves were statistically indistinguishable for principal components (PC) 1 and 2 (Table 2)
Summary
The late Pleistocene fauna in North America was different and more diverse than it is today. Mammals were found in greater species diversities, population numbers, and body sizes (Smith et al 2003). When dire wolves went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene epoch (circa 11,500 years ago), it enabled the gray wolf to move into the territory that is mid-continent North America in much larger numbers (Dundas 1999). Gray wolves are well-documented north of these latitudes, well into the Arctic Circle, in both the late Pleistocene and the Holocene (www.neotomadb.org). Gray wolves are found in much lower densities in the late Pleistocene of North America. At Rancho La Brea in southern California dire wolf fossils outnumber gray wolf fossils by a factor of more than five
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