Quaternary records of the dire wolf, <i>Canis dirus</i>, in North and South America

Dundas, Robert G.

doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.1999.tb00227.x

Cited by 25 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Biknevicius & Van Valkenburgh (1996, p. 419) presented a compelling summary of the feeding behavior of dire wolves: ‘… like gray wolves and unlike hyaenas, dire wolves probably used their postcarnassial molars to crack bones. Overall, the mandibular corpus of the dire wolf is essentially wolf‐like, showing no special adaptations to distinguish it from that of gray wolves except that, by virtue of their larger absolute size, dire wolves were likely able to crush larger bones and gain access to valuable marrow within the bones of larger herbivores.’ This study lends support to this assertion and strengthens earlier conclusions by Hill (1991), Dundas (1994) and, more recently, Anyonge et al . (2003), where they found Ca.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Craniofacial morphology and feeding behavior inCanis dirus, the extinct Pleistocene dire wolf

Anyonge

Baker

2006

Journal of Zoology

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The craniofacial morphology of the extinct late Pleistocene dire wolf Canis dirus was compared with that of the living gray wolf Canis lupus, the spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta and the extinct late Miocene bone-cracking canid Borophagus secundus. Fifteen indices that have previously been shown to reflect functional significance in the skull, jaws and related musculature of carnivorans were computed from a series of measurements made on the skulls of the four species and subjected to an analysis of variance and a principal components analysis. The results indicated that the extinct dire wolf was similar to the living gray wolf in 11 of the 15 indices. The dire wolf did not differ significantly from the gray wolf in the relative length of resistance arms to various tooth positions in the lower jaw or in the relative size, mechanical advantage and moment arm of the masseter muscle. The dire wolf was characterized by a relatively larger temporalis muscle that was capable of generating more force than that in the gray wolf. The extinct late Miocene borophagine dog B. secundus was intermediate between the two wolves and the spotted hyaena in most of the cranial and jaw indices, but displayed more similarity to the latter in several key features that can be attributed to their specialization for bone cracking. Borophagus secundus and the spotted hyaena tended to have short resistance arms and large jaw muscles with increased mechanical advantage for bites at various teeth. It is inferred that the dire wolf exhibited feeding behavior that approached that of the living gray wolf, but may have differed in killing technique, where it held longer to its struggling prey.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Craniofacial morphology and feeding behavior inCanis dirus, the extinct Pleistocene dire wolf

Anyonge

Baker

2006

Journal of Zoology

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“…This is also indicated by their absence at McKittrick and Maricopa and is consistent with other studies (31,32). A small sample size of gray wolves may give a false-negative result, but Leonard et al (31) also noted the gracile nature of the gray wolves at RLB (similar to living morphs) compared with end-Pleistocene Alaskan and Beringian wolves.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…From a competition standpoint, the observed size increase in C. l. orcutti seems suboptimal in the presence of both wolf species. However, if dire wolves competitively excluded gray wolves (31,32), larger coyotes would have been able to move into the "empty" gray wolf niche. Nowak (21) also suggested that C. l. orcutti was filling a more wolf-like role in the environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution in coyotes (Canis latrans) in response to the megafaunal extinctions

Meachen

Samuels

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Living coyotes modify their behavior in the presence of larger carnivores, such as wolves. However, little is known about the effects of competitor presence or absence on morphological change in coyotes or wolves over long periods of time. We examined the evolution of coyotes and wolves through time from the late Pleistocene, during which many large carnivorous species coexisted as predators and competitors, to the Recent; this allowed us to investigate evolutionary changes in these species in response to climate change and megafaunal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene. We measured postcranial skeletal morphologies of wolves (Canis lupus) and coyotes (C. latrans) from Pleistocene-aged tar deposits, as well as early, mid, and recent Holocene populations of both. We found few morphological differences between Pleistocene and Holocene wolf populations. Conversely, we found many differences in coyotes: Pleistocene coyotes were larger and more robust than Holocene populations. However, within 1,000 y of the megafaunal extinctions, coyotes are morphologically indistinguishable from modern populations. We cannot attribute these differences directly to climate change because modern coyotes do not follow Bergmann's rule, which states body size increases with decreasing temperature. Instead, we suggest that Pleistocene coyotes may have been larger and more robust in response to larger competitors and a larger-bodied prey base. Although we cannot separate competition from predator-prey interactions, this study indicates that the effects of biotic interactions can be detected in the fossil record.Pleistocene extinctions | Canidae | Rancho La Brea

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“…This gray wolf insinuated itself into a carnivore guild that already contained forms both larger (dire wolf) and smaller (coyote) than itself. The presence of these two relatively common species (especially the dire wolf) seems to have prevented gray wolves from reaching high densities until after the demise of the dire wolf, approximately 10 ka BP [12]. The appearance of a more robust form of the gray wolf in eastern Beringia in the Late Pleistocene might represent evolution in situ or a secondary invasion from the Old World.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Megafaunal Extinctions and the Disappearance of a Specialized Wolf Ecomorph

et al. 2007

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The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is one of the few large predators to survive the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions [1]. Nevertheless, wolves disappeared from northern North America in the Late Pleistocene, suggesting they were affected by factors that eliminated other species. Using skeletal material collected from Pleistocene permafrost deposits of eastern Beringia, we present a comprehensive analysis of an extinct vertebrate by exploring genetic (mtDNA), morphologic, and isotopic (delta(13)C, delta(15)N) data to reveal the evolutionary relationships, as well as diet and feeding behavior, of ancient wolves. Remarkably, the Late Pleistocene wolves are genetically unique and morphologically distinct. None of the 16 mtDNA haplotypes recovered from a sample of 20 Pleistocene eastern-Beringian wolves was shared with any modern wolf, and instead they appear most closely related to Late Pleistocene wolves of Eurasia. Moreover, skull shape, tooth wear, and isotopic data suggest that eastern-Beringian wolves were specialized hunters and scavengers of extinct megafauna. Thus, a previously unrecognized, uniquely adapted, and genetically distinct wolf ecomorph suffered extinction in the Late Pleistocene, along with other megafauna. Consequently, the survival of the species in North America depended on the presence of more generalized forms elsewhere.

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Quaternary records of the dire wolf, Canis dirus, in North and South America

Cited by 25 publications

References 26 publications

Craniofacial morphology and feeding behavior inCanis dirus, the extinct Pleistocene dire wolf

Craniofacial morphology and feeding behavior inCanis dirus, the extinct Pleistocene dire wolf

Evolution in coyotes (Canis latrans) in response to the megafaunal extinctions

Megafaunal Extinctions and the Disappearance of a Specialized Wolf Ecomorph

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