Armbruster's wolf

Armbruster's wolf Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Late Pleistocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
File:Canis ambrusteri skull.png
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Canis
Species:	†C. armbrusteri
Binomial name
†Canis armbrusteri J. W. Gidley, 1913
File:Canis armbrusteri range.png
Range of Armbruster's wolf based on fossil distribution

File:Canis armbrusteri timeline.png

Timeline of canids with Canis armbrusteri in red. (Tedford & Wang)

Armbruster's wolf (Canis armbrusteri) is an extinct species of canid which was endemic to North America and lived during the Irvingtonian stage of the Pleistocene epoch 1.8 Mya—300,000 years ago, existing for approximately 1.5 million years.

Origin

Canis armbrusteri may have evolved from C. chihliensis in Asia (Tedford, Wang, 182). C. armbrusteri first appears in the Early Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) in the southwestern United States. Remains are often found within the rock strata containing mammoth. C. dirus, the dire wolf, is thought to have evolved from C. armbrusteri in North America. C. armbrusteri was displaced in the middle section of the continent by the dire wolf, with C. armbrusteri pushed southeastward until the Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean stage) in Florida.

Taxonomy

Canis armbrusteri was named by J. W. Gidley in 1913. The first fossils were uncovered at Cumberland Bone Cave, Maryland, in an Irvingtonian terrestrial horizon. Fossil distribution is widespread throughout the U.S.

Armbruster's wolf is considered a sister species of the dire wolf, one of the most recent evolutionary relatives of the modern wolf, differing from the gray wolf and dire wolf by a narrower skull. It is considered to be the closest relative to Canis falconeri.