Himalayan wolf

The Himalayan wolf is a proposed clade within the Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus filchneri) that is distinguished by its , which is basal to all other wolves including other Tibetan wolves. The taxonomic status of this wolf clade is disputed, with the separate species Canis himalayensis being proposed based on two limited DNA studies. However, the 50% likelihood provided by the model on which the study was based provides only weak support for this proposal.

The wolves of Tibet were first described by British zoologist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1847 as Canis laniger. In 1907, the German zoologist Paul Matschie described a type specimen of a wolf that lived in the Gansu and Qinghai regions of China, which he named Canis filchneri Matschie (1907). In the third edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher Wozencraft listed under the wolf Canis lupus the taxonomic synonyms for the subspecies Canis lupus filchneri, under which he included filchneri Matschie (1907) and laniger Hodgson (1847).

In 1941, Reginald Pocock had referred to the Tibetan wolf as Canis lupus laniger and classified it as a synonym under C. l. chanco. There are some researchers who still refer to Pocock's classification of the Tibetan wolf as C. l. chanco, which has caused taxonomic confusion.

Two DNA studies in 2004 and 2007 found that some of the Tibetan wolves living in the Trans-Himalaya region were basal to all other wolves, and proposed a new taxonomic classification of Canis himalayensis. The taxonomic reference Mammal Species of the World does not recognize Canis himalayensis, however NCBI/Genbank does list Canis lupus himalayensis.

There are now academic works that refer to the Himalayan wolf as Canis himalayensis, and the Tibetan wolf as Canis lupus laniger.

...
Wikipedia