Identification and distribution of canis species across Ontario using the mitochondrial control region and microsatellite loci

Sonya K. Grewal, Bradley N. White, Department of Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada; Paul J. Wilson, Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Canada; John B. Theberge, School of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Dennis Voigt, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 300 Water Street, Peterborough, ON K9J 8M5, Canada

We have described four types of Canis-like animals in Ontario: the boreal wolf - C. lupus nubilus; the eastern Canadian timber wolf - C. lupus lycaon; the Tweed wolf, a hybrid between the eastern Canadian wolf and the coyote; and a second Canis hybrid which forms between the eastern Canadian wolf and the boreal wolf. Based on DNA evidence we propose that the eastern Canadian wolf is not a gray wolf sub-species, but is the same species or a close relative of the red wolf, C. rufus found in the southern U.S. We suggest that both taxa have a common origin, evolving in North America, with neither having any recent connection with the gray wolf that evolved in Eurasia. Using mitochondrial control region sequences and 8 microsatellite loci, we developed DNA profiles for Ontario canis types. The Algonquin Park wolf appears to represent the purest population of C. lycaon. Evidence of coyote DNA introgression was apparent by the 1960s, however, populations of C. lycaon/ C. latrans hybrids to the east and south do not readily exchange genes with the Algonquin Park population at present. To the northwest of the Park, we find a combination of C. lycaon and its hybrid form with C. l. nubilus and C. latrans. The eastern Ontario gray wolf population appears to have declined since the 1960s, but is still found in Pukaskwa National Park and perhaps the northern boreal forest. In northwestern Ontario, a high density of C. lycaon and C. lupus / C. lycaon hybrids are observed. Distribution of the four canis types appears to be based on ungulate distribution with the presence of correlating with C. lupus nubilus and deer with C. lycaon. Human disturbance may have had a greater impact on the gray wolf than the eastern Canadian wolf with the gray wolf distribution declining. Currently, central and southern Ontario is dominated by C. lycaon / C. latrans hybrids, which flourish in mixed farmland/woodland areas.