Alaskan tundra wolf

Alaskan tundra wolf
C. l. tundrarum, Lobo Park, Antequera, Spain
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Canis
Species:	C. lupus
Subspecies:	C. l. tundrarum
Trinomial name
Canis lupus tundrarum Miller, 1912[1]

The Alaskan tundra wolf (Canis lupus tundrarum), also known as the barren-ground wolf,^[2] is a possible subspecies of gray wolf native to the barren grounds of the Arctic Coast region from near Point Barrow eastward toward Hudson Bay and probably northwards to the Arctic Archipelago. It was named in 1912 by Gerrit Smith Miller, who noted that it closely approaches the Great Plains wolf in skull and tooth morphology, though possessing a narrower rostrum and palate.^[3] It is a large, white-colored wolf closely resembling C. l. pambasileus, though lighter in color.^[4]

As of 2005,^[5] it is considered a valid subspecies by MSW3, though it is classed as a synonym of C. l. occidentalis by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.^[6]

References

1. "Canis lupus tundrarum Miller, 1912". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
2. Glover, A. (1942), Extinct and vanishing mammals of the western hemisphere, with the marine species of all the oceans, American Committee for International Wild Life Protection, pp. 226-227
3. Miller, G. S. (1913), The names of the large wolves of northern and western North America, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 59, no. 15
4. Mech, L. David (1981), The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species, University of Minnesota Press, p. 353, ISBN 0-8166-1026-6
5. Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
6. Chambers SM, Fain SR, Fazio B, Amaral M (2012). "An account of the taxonomy of North American wolves from morphological and genetic analyses". North American Fauna. 77: 1–67. doi:10.3996/nafa.77.0001. Retrieved 2013-07-02.