Canis rufus Audubon and Bachman, 1851 . The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, 2: 240.

TYPE LOCALITY: U.S.A., Texas, 15 mi. (24 km) W. Austin .

DISTRIBUTION: S. E. and S. C. U.S.A., from Florida to C. Texas and north to S. Indiana and Missouri.

COMMENT: The widely used name niger has been rejected by opinion 447 of the ICZN. The validity of rufus as a species has been questioned by Clutton-Brock et al., 197$ 29(3): 143, due to the existence of natural hybrids with lupus and latrans . Natural hybridization may be a consequence of habitat disruption by man; see Paradiso and Nowak, 1972, U.S. Fish and Wild. Serv., Spec. Sei. Rep. Wildl., 145; Nowak, 1979, Univ. Kans. Mus. Nat. Hist. Monogr., 6: 1 -154, who provided evidence for specific distinctness. Reviewed by Paradiso and Nowak, 1972, Mamm. Species, 22:1-4. Type locality restricted by Goldman, 1937, J. Mammal., 18: 38.

PROTECTED STATUS: U.S. ESA - Endangered.

ISIS NUMBER: 5301412001003007001.