Validity of the Red Wolf: Response to Roy et al.

Abstract

Red is a name commonly given to a kind of wild Canis historically found from central Texas to the Atlantic (Fig. 1). Since first recorded in colonial times, it has been treated variously as a full species or as a subspecies of the Holarctic gray wolf. Current technical names would be C. rufus if a species and C. lupus rufus if a subspecies. McCarley (1962) found that the red wolf had hybridized extensively with the coyote (C. latrans). That factor, together with human persecution and environmental disruption, brought the red wolf to the point of extinction. It was classified as endangered in 1967. The recent paper by Roy et al. (1996) is one of a series (Wayne & Jenks 1991; Jenks & Wayne 1992; Wayne 1992, 1993, 1995; Roy et al. 1994a, 1994b; Wayne & Gittleman 1995; Wayne et al. 1995) suggesting, through analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, that the red wolf is not a valid species or subspecies, but instead originated as a hybrid of C. lupus and C. latrans. Although this hypothesis has achieved limited support (Brownlow 1996), it has been challenged by other genetic authorities (Dowling et al. 1992a, 1992b; Cronin 1993). That there has been introgressive hybridization of the red wolf and coyote is not in dispute. Its occurrence has long been recognized by all who have looked into the issue and is a major reason that the red wolf is endangered. It would not be unexpected to find that genetic material from one species has spread through the other. Nevertheless, to accept this process of hybridization and the consequent decline of the red wolf within the last century is very different from accepting that the red wolf had a hybrid origin hundreds or thousands of years ago. It requires some effort to comprehend the fundamental difference between the two positions. One argues that the red wolf is an ancient component of its ecosystem but has nearly disappeared, in part because