Cascade mountain wolf

The Cascade mountain wolf (Canis lupus fuscus) is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once found in the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington),^[3] but became extinct in 1940.^[3]

Cascade Mountains wolf
Illustration based on a description by Edward Alphonso Goldman
Conservation status
Extinct (1940)  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Canis
Species:	C. lupus
Subspecies:	†C. l. fuscus
Trinomial name
†Canis lupus fuscus Richardson, 1839[1]
Former range of the Cascade Mountain wolf
Synonyms[2]
Canis lupus gigas (Townsend, 1850)

Taxonomy

It was originally identified as a separate species by Richardson in 1839^[4] and from other wolves in the area by Edward Goldman in 1945.^[5] It is recognized as a subspecies of Canis lupus in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005).^[6]

Evolution

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) migrated from Eurasia into North America 70,000–23,000 years ago and gave rise to at least two morphologically and genetically distinct groups.^[7] One group is represented by the extinct Beringian wolf and the other by the modern populations.^[8][9] One author proposes that the Cascade mountains wolf forms part of a clade whose ancestors were the second wolves to cross the Bering land bridge into North America.^[10]

Until the end of the Pleistocene, the area in which the Cascade mountain wolf inhabited was covered in the Laurentide ice sheet. After these sheets melted, wolves from the Southern Great Plains migrated into this area.^[11]

Description

It was described as a cinnamon-coloured wolf, measuring 165 cm (65 in) and weighing 36–49 kg (79–108 lb).^[12]

Distribution

This subspecies was found in Pacific Northwest, and was one of three coastal wolf subspecies found in the British Columbia Coast. Its range extended southwards to Northern California and may have extended to northeastern Nevada.^[13] The Cascade mountain wolf was found in southeastern Alaska, which marked the northern limit of its range.^[14]

The southernmost specimen of this subspecies was an individual who was trapped in Lassen County, California, in 1924.^[15] This was the last wolf in California before OR-7 travelled into the state from Oregon in December 2011.^[16][17]

Resettlement

Recently another subspecies, the British Columbia wolf (Canis lupus columbianus), has established itself in the Cascade mountain wolf's past territory by following the Cascade Range through Washington and is now west of the Cascade Crest,^[18] expanding across Oregon,^[19] and into northern California to Lassen Peak, where in 2019 the Lassen pack produced 3 pups.^[20]