Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793
Copyright © 2019 Magnolia Press. The taxonomic status and systematic nomenclature of the Australian dingo remain contentious, resulting in decades of inconsistent applications in the scientific literature and in policy. Prompted by a recent publication calling for dingoes to be considered taxonomica...
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ftunivtsydney:oai:opus.lib.uts.edu.au:10453/136534 2023-05-15T15:51:01+02:00 Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 Smith, BP Cairns, KM Adams, JW Newsome, TM Fillios, M Déaux, EC Parr, WCH Letnic, M van Eeden, LM Appleby, RG Bradshaw, CJA Savolainen, P Ritchie, EG Nimmo, DG Archer-Lean, C Greenville, AC Dickman, CR Watson, L Moseby, KE Doherty, TS Wallach, AD Morrant, DS Crowther, MS 2019-01-01 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10453/136534 unknown Zootaxa 10.11646/zootaxa.4564.1.6 Zootaxa, 2019, 4564 (1), pp. 173 - 197 1175-5326 http://hdl.handle.net/10453/136534 Zoology Animals Canidae Dogs Wolves Phylogeny Australia Journal Article 2019 ftunivtsydney 2022-03-13T13:30:06Z Copyright © 2019 Magnolia Press. The taxonomic status and systematic nomenclature of the Australian dingo remain contentious, resulting in decades of inconsistent applications in the scientific literature and in policy. Prompted by a recent publication calling for dingoes to be considered taxonomically as domestic dogs (Jackson et al. 2017, Zootaxa 4317, 201-224), we review the issues of the taxonomy applied to canids, and summarise the main differences between dingoes and other canids. We conclude that (1) the Australian dingo is a geographically isolated (allopatric) species from all other Canis, and is genetically, phenotypically, ecologically, and behaviourally distinct; and (2) the dingo appears largely devoid of many of the signs of domestication, including surviving largely as a wild animal in Australia for millennia. The case of defining dingo taxonomy provides a quintessential example of the disagreements between species concepts (e.g., biological, phylogenetic, ecological, morphological). Applying the biological species concept sensu stricto to the dingo as suggested by Jackson et al. (2017) and consistently across the Canidae would lead to an aggregation of all Canis populations, implying for example that dogs and wolves are the same species. Such an aggregation would have substantial implications for taxonomic clarity, biological research, and wildlife conservation. Any changes to the current nomen of the dingo (currently Canis dingo Meyer, 1793), must therefore offer a strong, evidence-based argument in favour of it being recognised as a subspecies of Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758, or as Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758, and a successful application to the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature - neither of which can be adequately supported. Although there are many species concepts, the sum of the evidence presented in this paper affirms the classification of the dingo as a distinct taxon, namely Canis dingo. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus University of Technology Sydney: OPUS - Open Publications of UTS Scholars |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Technology Sydney: OPUS - Open Publications of UTS Scholars |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtsydney |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Zoology Animals Canidae Dogs Wolves Phylogeny Australia |
spellingShingle |
Zoology Animals Canidae Dogs Wolves Phylogeny Australia Smith, BP Cairns, KM Adams, JW Newsome, TM Fillios, M Déaux, EC Parr, WCH Letnic, M van Eeden, LM Appleby, RG Bradshaw, CJA Savolainen, P Ritchie, EG Nimmo, DG Archer-Lean, C Greenville, AC Dickman, CR Watson, L Moseby, KE Doherty, TS Wallach, AD Morrant, DS Crowther, MS Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
topic_facet |
Zoology Animals Canidae Dogs Wolves Phylogeny Australia |
description |
Copyright © 2019 Magnolia Press. The taxonomic status and systematic nomenclature of the Australian dingo remain contentious, resulting in decades of inconsistent applications in the scientific literature and in policy. Prompted by a recent publication calling for dingoes to be considered taxonomically as domestic dogs (Jackson et al. 2017, Zootaxa 4317, 201-224), we review the issues of the taxonomy applied to canids, and summarise the main differences between dingoes and other canids. We conclude that (1) the Australian dingo is a geographically isolated (allopatric) species from all other Canis, and is genetically, phenotypically, ecologically, and behaviourally distinct; and (2) the dingo appears largely devoid of many of the signs of domestication, including surviving largely as a wild animal in Australia for millennia. The case of defining dingo taxonomy provides a quintessential example of the disagreements between species concepts (e.g., biological, phylogenetic, ecological, morphological). Applying the biological species concept sensu stricto to the dingo as suggested by Jackson et al. (2017) and consistently across the Canidae would lead to an aggregation of all Canis populations, implying for example that dogs and wolves are the same species. Such an aggregation would have substantial implications for taxonomic clarity, biological research, and wildlife conservation. Any changes to the current nomen of the dingo (currently Canis dingo Meyer, 1793), must therefore offer a strong, evidence-based argument in favour of it being recognised as a subspecies of Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758, or as Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758, and a successful application to the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature - neither of which can be adequately supported. Although there are many species concepts, the sum of the evidence presented in this paper affirms the classification of the dingo as a distinct taxon, namely Canis dingo. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, BP Cairns, KM Adams, JW Newsome, TM Fillios, M Déaux, EC Parr, WCH Letnic, M van Eeden, LM Appleby, RG Bradshaw, CJA Savolainen, P Ritchie, EG Nimmo, DG Archer-Lean, C Greenville, AC Dickman, CR Watson, L Moseby, KE Doherty, TS Wallach, AD Morrant, DS Crowther, MS |
author_facet |
Smith, BP Cairns, KM Adams, JW Newsome, TM Fillios, M Déaux, EC Parr, WCH Letnic, M van Eeden, LM Appleby, RG Bradshaw, CJA Savolainen, P Ritchie, EG Nimmo, DG Archer-Lean, C Greenville, AC Dickman, CR Watson, L Moseby, KE Doherty, TS Wallach, AD Morrant, DS Crowther, MS |
author_sort |
Smith, BP |
title |
Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
title_short |
Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
title_full |
Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
title_fullStr |
Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: The case for Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
title_sort |
taxonomic status of the australian dingo: the case for canis dingo meyer, 1793 |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10453/136534 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_relation |
Zootaxa 10.11646/zootaxa.4564.1.6 Zootaxa, 2019, 4564 (1), pp. 173 - 197 1175-5326 http://hdl.handle.net/10453/136534 |
_version_ |
1766386077854072832 |