| Edward's wolf Temporal range: Pliocene–Middle Pleistocene |
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| Conservation status | |
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Fossil
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Canis |
| Species: | †C. edwardii |
| Binomial name | |
| †Canis edwardii Gazin, 1942 |
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Canis edwardii (Edward's wolf) is an extinct species of Canidae which was endemic to most of North America from the Blancan stage of the Pliocene epoch through to the Irvingtonian stage of the Pleistocene epoch, living 4.9 Mya—300,000 years ago, existing for approximately 4.6 million years. [1] It is related to the jackals.
It was contemporaneous with the Dire Wolf (1.80 Ma—11,000 years ago), Canis lepophagus (10.3—1.8 Ma), Armbruster's Wolf (1.8 Mya—300,000 years ago), Canis rufus (1-2 Ma-present), and the Gray Wolf (3.5 Ma—present).
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Canis edwardii was named by Gazin in 1942. This species was synonymized subjectively with Canis lupus (Gray wolf) in 1954 by B. Kurten in 1974 and B. Kurten and E. Anderson in 1980,[2][3] but is currently accepted as valid.[4]
A specimen was estimated by Legendre and Roth to weigh 35 kg (77 lb) and another specimen was estimated to weigh 31 kg (68 lb).[5]
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