The Company of Wolves (57 page)

In 1992, in a paper entitled “Another Look at Wolf Taxonomy” presented at the International Wolf Symposium in Edmonton, Alberta, Ronald Nowak of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggested combining these twenty-four subspecies into five, as follows:

1. arctos
   would include
   bernardi
   and
   orion
   
2. baileyi
   
3. lycaon
   
4. nubilus
   would include
   beothucus, crasso don, fuscus, hudsonicus, irremotus, labradorius, ligoni, manningi, mogollonensis, monstrabilis
   , and
   youngi
   
5. occidentalis
   would include
   alces, columbianus, griseoalbus, mackenzii, pambasileus
   , and
   tundrarum
   

V. E. Sokolov and O. L. Rossolimo in “Taxonomy and Variability,” a paper included in D. I. Bibikov’s
The Wolf: History, Systematics, Morphology and Ecology
(Moscow: U.S.S.R. Academy of Science, 1985), recognized nine subspecies of
Canis lupus
in the Old World:

Other authorities might have added
Canis lupus arabs
, a small, light-colored wolf from southern Arabia, which Sokolov and Rossolimo regarded as a synonym of
pallipes; Canis lupus lupaster
, in Egypt, which many authorities regard as a subspecies of
Canis aureus
, the golden jackal; and
Canis lupus communis
, from the Ural Mountains of Russia and Siberia.

Nowak suggested combining
campestris, chanco
, and
desertorum
with
lupus
. His analysis would also recognize
pallipes, cubanensis, albus, communis
, and
hattai
. He did not analyze
arabs, lupaster
, or
hodophilax
.

Key to Map 1: New World subspecies of
Canis lupus
recognized by Hall (1981):

1. alces
   
2. arctos
   
3. baileyi
   
4. beothucus
   
5. bernardi
   
6. columbianus
   
7. crassodon
   
8. fuscus
   
9. griseoalbus
   
10. hudsonicus
    
11. irremotus
    
12. labradorius
    
13. ligoni
    
14. lycaon
    
15. mackenzii
    
16. manningi
    
17. mogollonensis
    
18. monstrabilis
    
19. nubilus
    
20. occidentalis
    
21. orion
    
22. pambasileus
    
23. tundrarum
    
24. youngi
    

Key to Map 2: New World subspecies of
Canis lupus
as suggested by Ronald Nowak (1992):

1. arctos
   
2. baileyi
   
3. lycaon
   
4. nubilus
   
5. occidentalis
   

Key to Map 3. Old World subspecies of
Canis lupus
recognized by Sokolov and Rossolimo and others:

1. albus
   
2. campestris
   
3. chanco
   
4. cubanensis
   
5. desertorum
   
6. hattai
   
7. hodophilax
   
8. lupus
   
9. pallipes
   
10. arabs
    
11. lupaster
    
12. communis
    

Maps based on Ronald Nowak (1992), redrawn by Peter Steinhart by permission of Ronald Nowak (1992).