List of canids

Canidae is a family of mammals in the order Carnivora. It includes domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, dingoes, and many other living (extant) and extinct dog-like mammals. A member of this family is called a canid. All living species belong to one subfamily, Caninae, and are called canines. Canids are found on every continent except Antarctica. They got there on their own or traveled with humans over a very long time.

Canids come in many sizes. The smallest is the fennec fox, about 46 cm (18 in) long including its tail. The wolf can grow to about 2 meters (6 ft 7 in). Their populations also vary a lot. The Falkland Islands wolf has been extinct since 1876. The domestic dog, however, lives all over the world, with over 1 billion dogs.

Most canids have a similar body shape. They usually have long muzzles, upright ears, and strong teeth. They also have long legs and bushy tails. Most species are social animals. They live together in family groups or small packs and work as a team. Usually, only the leading pair in a group has young. They raise one litter each year in an underground den. Canids communicate using smells and sounds. The domestic dog started living with humans at least 14,000 years ago. Today it is one of the most common pets in the world.

The 13 living genera and 37 species of Caninae are mainly divided into two tribes. The tribe Canini includes 11 genera and 19 species. It contains the wolf-like Canina subtribe and the South American Cerdocyonina subtribe. The tribe Vulpini includes the fox-like canids, with 3 genera and 15 species. The genus Urocyon, which has 2 species and mainly includes the gray fox, is not part of either tribe. It is believed to be basal to the family. In the tribe Canini, the genus Dusicyon once had two species. Both have recently gone extinct. The South American fox disappeared around 400 years ago, and the Falkland Islands wolf disappeared in 1876.

Canidae also includes two extinct subfamilies, called Hesperocyoninae and Borophaginae. Some extinct species have also been placed in Caninae. Scientists have found many extinct species in these groups. Because research is still going on, the exact number and grouping of these species is not settled. The earliest canids belong to Hesperocyoninae. They are believed to have split off from the Caniformia suborder around 37 million years ago.

Conventions

The author citation for each species or genus comes after its scientific name. When the author citation is in parentheses, the species was first placed in a different group than it is in now. Conservation status codes follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Maps of where each canid lives are shown whenever possible. If there is no map, a written description of its range is given instead. Ranges come from the IUCN Red List for each species, unless noted otherwise.

Species that are no longer alive are marked with a dagger symbol, "†". Some species and subspecies are extinct, which means they no longer exist. They are listed alongside living (extant) ones. All of them died out after 1500 CE.

Classification

The dog family has 37 living species, sorted into 13 genera (groups), and 194 living subspecies. It also includes the extinct genus Dusicyon, which has two extinct species, and 13 extinct wolf subspecies. These wolf subspecies are the only canids that have died out since prehistoric times. The count leaves out hybrid species such as wolfdogs and coywolves, and extinct prehistoric animals such as the dire wolf and Epicyon. Studies of genes show that the 13 genera can be grouped into 3 tribes or clades.

Subfamily Caninae

Tribe Canini (true canines)
- Subtribe Canina (wolf-like canids)
  - Genus Canis: six species
  - Genus Cuon: one species
  - Genus Lupulella: two species
  - Genus Lycaon: one species
- Subtribe Cerdocyonina (South American canids)
  - Genus Atelocynus: one species
  - Genus Cerdocyon: one species
  - Genus Chrysocyon: one species
  - Genus Dusicyon†: two species
  - Genus Lycalopex: six species
  - Genus Speothos: one species
Tribe Vulpini (true foxes)
- Genus Nyctereutes: two species
- Genus Otocyon: one species
- Genus Vulpes: twelve species
Genus Urocyon (gray foxes): two species

Canids

This list of canids is based on a book called Mammal Species of the World (2005). It also includes changes that scientists have generally agreed on since then, using molecular phylogenetic analysis. For example, the African golden wolf is now treated as its own species, separate from the golden jackal. The genus Lupulella was also split away from Canis. The range maps use data from the IUCN.

Some ideas are still debated. For example, the red wolf and eastern wolf are sometimes thought to be separate species instead of types of wolf. These are marked with a "(debated)" tag.