Reviving the Canis lupus lupaster African Wolf in North and West Africa: a Mitochondrial Lineage Ranging More Than 6,000 km Wide

Building on the recent discovery of a mitochondrial lineage of gray wolf in North-East Africa, the African wolf Canis lupus lupaster, we analyzed the mtDNA diversity (cytochrome b and control region) of a series of African Canis including wolf-like animals from North and West Africa. Our objectives were to assess the actual range of Canis l. lupaster, to further estimate the genetic characteristics of its lineage, and to question the delineation between the African wolf and the golden jackal C. aureus. Using the largest series of mtDNA sequences analyzed to date, we confirmed the existence of four distinct lineages within the gray wolf, including C. lupus / familiaris (Holarctic wolves and dogs), C. l. pallipes (moderately differentiated from the former), C. l. chanco and C. l. lupaster. Taxonomic assignment procedures identified wolf-like individuals from Algeria, Mali and Senegal, as belonging to the African wolf lineage, expanding its distribution c. 6,000 km to the west, into North and West Africa. Among gray wolves, Canis l. lupaster had the greatest divergence from C. lupus / familiaris (cytochrome b distance = 4.3 %) and the highest level of genetic diversity, arguing for a relictual African lineage with a large female effective population size, as also suggested by the Plio-Pleistocene fossil record. Unique field observations in Senegal allowed us to provide a morphological and behavioral diagnosis of the African wolf that clearly distinguished from the sympatric golden jackal. However, the detection of C. l. lupaster mtDNA haplotypes in C. aureus from Senegal eventually questioned the delineation between the African wolf and the golden jackal. Given the poor consideration ‘wolf-like’ canids are subject to in Africa, it appears urgent to further characterize the status of the African wolf with regard to jackal species, in order to engage into a likely urgent conservation strategy.

Source de publication: PLoS ONE

Contacts du ou des auteurs: Philippe Gaubert; Cécile Bloch; Slim Benyacoub; Adnan Abed; Paolo Pagani; Chabi Adéyèmi Marc Sylvestre Djagoun (dchabi@gamail.com); Arnaud Couloux; Sylvain Dufour