RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Rediscovery of red wolf ghost alleles in a canid population along the American Gulf Coast
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 420356
DO 10.1101/420356
A1 Elizabeth Heppenheimer
A1 Kristin E. Brzeski
A1 Ron Wooten
A1 Will Waddell
A1 Linda Y. Rutledge
A1 Michael J. Chamberlain
A1 Daniel R. Stahler
A1 Joseph W. Hinton
A1 Bridgett M. vonHoldt
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/09/18/420356.abstract
AB Rediscovering species once thought to be extinct or on the edge of extinction is rare. Red wolves have been extinct along the Gulf Coast region since 1980, with their last populations found in coastal Louisiana and Texas. We report the rediscovery of red wolf ghost alleles in a canid population on Galveston Island, Texas. We analyzed over 7,000 SNPs in 60 canid representatives from all legally recognized North American Canis species and two phenotypically ambiguous canids from Galveston Island. We found notably high Bayesian cluster assignments of the Galveston canids to captive red wolves with extensive sharing of red wolf private alleles. Today, the only known extant wild red wolves persist in a reintroduced population in North Carolina, which is dwindling amongst political and taxonomic controversy. Our rediscovery of red wolf ancestry after almost 40 years introduces both positive opportunities for additional conservation action and difficult policy challenges.