Southern Rocky Mountain wolf

Not to be confused with Northern Rocky Mountain wolf.
Southern Rocky Mountains wolf
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: C. lupus
Subspecies: C. l. youngi
Trinomial name
Canis lupus youngi
Goldman, 1937[1]

The southern Rocky Mountain wolf (Canis lupus youngi) is a possibly extinct subspecies of gray wolf found over southeastern Idaho, southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Nevada, Utah, western and central Colorado, northwestern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. It is a light-colored, medium-sized subspecies closely resembling C. l. nubilus, though larger, with more blackish-buff hairs on the back.[2]

As of 2005,[3] it is considered a valid subspecies by MSW3, though it is classed as a synonym of C. l. nubilus by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.[4]

Wolves have reestablished in Idaho and Wyoming, however, Canis lupus youngi is probably extinct, as the wolves there, as of 2015, are of subspecies Canis lupus occidentalis.

References

  1. "Canis lupus youngi Goldman, 1937". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. Glover, A. (1942), Extinct and vanishing mammals of the western hemisphere, with the marine species of all the oceans, American Committee for International Wild Life Protection, pp. 227-229.
  3. Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  4. Chambers SM, Fain SR, Fazio B, Amaral M (2012). "An account of the taxonomy of North American wolves from morphological and genetic analyses". North American Fauna 77: 1–67. doi:10.3996/nafa.77.0001. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
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