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

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 Ameen, Ekaterina E. Antipina, Pere Bover, Selina Brace, Alberto Carmagnini, Christian Carøe, Jose A. Samaniego Castruita, James C. Chatters, Keith Dobney, Mario Reis, Allowen Evin, Philippe Gaubert, Shyam Gopalakrishnan, Graham Gower, Holly Heiniger, Kristofer M. Helgen, Josh Kapp, Pavel A. Kosintsev, Anna Linderholm, Andrew T. Ozga, Samantha Presslee, Alexander T. Salis, Nedda F. Saremi, Colin Shew, Katherine Skerry, Dmitry E. Taranenko, Mary Thompson, Mikhail V. Sablin, Yaroslav V. Kuzmin, Matthew J. Collins, Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Anne C. Stone, Beth Shapiro, Blaire Valkenburgh, Robert K. Wayne, Greger Larson, Alan Cooper and Laurent A. F. Frantz ()
Additional contact information
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
James Haile: The University of Oxford
Alexandra Jamieson: The University of Oxford
Julie Meachen: Des Moines University
Audrey T. Lin: The University of Oxford
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
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
Anna Linderholm: The University of Oxford
Andrew T. Ozga: Arizona State 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
Matthew J. Collins: University of Copenhagen
Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding: University of Copenhagen
M. Thomas P. Gilbert: University of Copenhagen
Anne C. Stone: Arizona State University
Beth Shapiro: 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

Nature, 2021, vol. 591, issue 7848, 87-91

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03082-x

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