Dire Wolf - Taxonomic History

Taxonomic History

Canis dirus was named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 and recombined as Aenocyon dirus by Merriam (1918), Hibbard (1949) and Hibbard and Taylor in 1960. In 1916, Canis ayersi was named by Sellards. It was recombined as Aenocyon ayersi by Merriam in 1918 and was synonymized subjectively with C. dirus by Lundelius in 1972, Martin (1974), Nowak (1979), Kurten and Anderson (1980) and Kurten in 1984. Leidy also named the dire wolf as Canis indianensis in 1869 which was synonymized subjectively with C. dirus by Troxell in 1915. Canis mississippiensis was named by Allen in 1876 and synonymized subjectively with Canis dirus by Nowak (1979), Kurten and Anderson (1980) and again by Kurten in 1984.