Subfamily of carnivores

Caninae

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Key facts

instance oftaxon

taxon nameCaninae

taxon ranksubfamily

Caninae, whose members are known as canines (), is the only extant subfamily within Canidae, and includes wolves, dogs, jackals, coyotes and foxes. They first appeared in North America during the Oligocene around 35 million years ago alongside the extinct sister taxa Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae, and subsequently spreading to Eurasia and elsewhere in the Old World at the end of the Miocene, some 7 million to 8 million years ago.

Taxonomy and lineage

Canidae

†Hesperocyoninae

	†Borophaginae

	Caninae

Canid subfamilies

The genus Leptocyon (Greek: leptos slender + cyon dog) includes 11 species and was the first primitive canine. They were small and weighed around 2 kg. They first appeared in Sioux County, Nebraska in the Orellan era 34-32 million years ago, which was the beginning of the Oligocene. This was the same time as the appearance of the Borophaginae with whom they share features, indicating that these were two sister groups. Borophaginae skull and dentition were designed for a powerful killing bite compared with the Leptocyon which were designed for snatching small, fast-moving prey. The species L. delicatus is the smallest canid to have existed. At the close of their genus 9 million years ago one Leptocyon lineage resembled the modern fox. The various species of Leptocyon branched 11.9 Mya into Vulpini (foxes) and Canini (canines).

The canines spent two-thirds of their history in North America, before dispersing 7 million years ago into Asia, Europe, and Africa. One of the characteristics that distinguished them from the Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae was their possession of less weight in their limbs and more length in their legs, which may have aided their dispersion. The first canine to arrive in Eurasia was the coyote-sized Canis cipio, whose scant fossils were found in Spain. However, the assignment of C. cipio within the canines to the genus Canis or genus Eucyon is not clear.

Phylogenetic relationships

The results of allozyme and chromosome analyses have previously suggested several phylogenetic divisions:

Divisions	Description	Genus	Species
Subtribe Canina	The wolf and wolf-like canines	Canis Linnaeus, 1758	Canis aureus Canis familiaris Canis latrans Canis lupaster Canis lupus Canis rufus Canis lycaon Canis simensis † Canis antonii † Canis armbrusteri † Canis chihliensis † Canis edwardii † Canis etruscus † Canis falconeri † Canis mosbachensis † Canis palmidens † Canis variabilis † Canis vitastensis
		Cuon Hodgson, 1838	Cuon alpinus
		Lycaon Brookes, 1827	Lycaon pictus †Lycaon sekowei
		Lupulella Hilzheimer, 1906	Lupulella adusta Lupulella mesomelas
Subtribe Cerdocyonina	The South American canines	Speothos Lund, 1839	Speothos venaticus †Speothos pacivorus
		Lycalopex Burmeister 1854	Lycalopex culpaeus Lycalopex fulvipes Lycalopex griseus Lycalopex gymnocercus Lycalopex sechurae Lycalopex vetulus †Lycalopex cultridens †Lycalopex ensenadensis
		Cerdocyon C. E. H. Smith, 1839	Cerdocyon thous
		Chrysocyon Smith, 1839	Chrysocyon brachyurus
		Atelocynus Cabrera, 1940	Atelocynus microtis
Tribe Vulpini	The fox-like canines	Nyctereutes Temminck, 1838	Nyctereutes procyonoides Nyctereutes viverrinus †Nyctereutes abdeslami †Nyctereutes donnezani †Nyctereutes lockwoodi †Nyctereutes megamastoides †Nyctereutes sinensis †Nyctereutes tingi †Nyctereutes vinetorum
		Otocyon S. Müller, 1835	Otocyon megalotis
		Vulpes Garsault, 1764	Vulpes bengalensis Vulpes cana Vulpes chama Vulpes corsac Vulpes ferrilata Vulpes lagopus Vulpes macrotis Vulpes pallida Vulpes rueppellii Vulpes velox Vulpes vulpes Vulpes zerda †Vulpes hassani †Vulpes praeglacialis †Vulpes qiuzhudingi †Vulpes riffautae †Vulpes rooki †Vulpes skinneri †Vulpes stenognathus
Genus Urocyon	Gray foxes	Urocyon Baird, 1857	U. cinereoargenteus U. littoralis † U. citrinus † U. galushai † U. minicephalus † U. progressus † U. webbi

DNA analysis shows that the first three form monophyletic clades. The wolf-like canines and the South American canines together form the tribe Canini. Molecular data imply a North American origin of living Canidae some 10 Mya and an African origin of wolf-like canines (Canis, Cuon, and Lycaon), with the jackals being the most basal of this group.

The South American clade is rooted by the maned wolf and bush dog, and the fox-like canines by the fennec fox and Blanford's fox. The gray fox and island fox are basal to the other clades; however, this topological difference is not strongly supported.

The cladogram below is based on the phylogeny of Lindblad-Toh (2005) modified to incorporate recent findings on Canis, Vulpes, Lycalopex species, and Dusicyon.

Caninae

Canini

Canina