Talk:Canis lupis hallstromi

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The New Guinea Singing Dog (NGSD) could be the same Canis lupus dingo or other subspecies (Canis lupus hallstromi).
CaCO3 19:43, 14 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The above opinion rightly recognizes both the Australian dingo and the New Guinea dingo/singing dog as unique taxa, but in my opinion incorrectly attributes them as subspecies of the gray wolf. The common but unsupported attribution of the dog as a wolf subspecies started with Mammal Species of the World by Wilson and Reeder (1994, 2005) and has been adopted by many without serious question. C. familiaris does not meet the criteria for a subspecies of C. lupus in that they have had, according to genetic sequencing, effective genetic isolation for at least 15,000 years while in complete sympatry. The genetic similarities of lupus and familiaris could be due to sharing a recent common ancestor, and not indicate the dog descended directly from the wolf, which is the most common conclusion. Not everything that belongs in the Canis genus that is not a jackal, coyote or Ethiopian wolf is neccessarily a subspecies of C. lupus.

Both morphology and genetics can distinguish lupus from familiaris. Therefore, C. hallstromi, which is a "dog" not a wolf, should be at minimum C. familiaris hallstromi where it does meet the criteria for a subspecies, being an allopatric population of "dog" with its own evolutionary history for at least 5,000 years per mtDNA dating (Savolainen et al. 2004. A detailed picture of the origin of the Australian dingo, obtained from the study of mitochndrial DNA. PNAS 101(33): 12387 - 12390). The domestic dog would be as L. named in 1758: C. familiaris domesticus, and the Australian dingo, C. familiaris dingo. The latter is the closest relative of C. hallstromi, but has diagnostic morphological and behavioral differences. The phylogeny and systematics of the genus Canis needs careful, objective reconsideration without the presumptive assumption that the dog descended directly from the gray wolf. If the same criteria for species categories that are applied to other taxa would be applied to C. hallstromi I believe it would meet all of the various species definitions as an allopatric species closely related to modern C. familiaris and C. lupus. Janice Koler-Matznick75.139.192.2 18:42, 5 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]