The Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) is a subspecies of gray wolf that ranges from Southwest Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It is intermediate in size between the Himalayan wolf and the Arabian wolf, and lacks the former's luxuriant winter coat due to it living in warmer conditions. Within this subspecies, the "Indian plains wolf" is genetically basal to all other extant Canis lupus apart from the older-lineage Himalayan wolf, with both proposed as separate species. The Indian wolf travels in smaller packs and is less vocal than other variants of the gray wolf, and has a reputation for being cunning. The Indian wolf is one of the most endangered populations of gray wolf in the world.
Taxonomy The Indian wolf was first described to Western science in 1831 by the British ornithologist William Henry Sykes under the binomial Canis pallipes. In 1941, Reginald Pocock subordinated it to Canis lupus under the trinomial Canis lupus pallipes.
Canis indica The Indian plains wolf (Canis lupus pallipes, synonym Canis indica) is formed by two closely related female lineage mitochondrial DNA haplotypes that fall within the Canis lupus pallipes subspecies of the gray wolf and is only found in the arid and semi-arid peninsular plains of India. These lineages are genetically unique from all other wolf lineageses worldwide, including from other wolves forming C. l. pallipes. The Indian gray wolf and the Himalayan wolf are phylogenetically basal to all other wolf subspecies and are closer to the African wolf. This indicates that these are the descendants of an ancient wolf distribution. In April 2009, the Latin binomial Canis indica had been proposed for these two haplotypes as a nomenclatural and taxonomic split from Canis lupus as a new species through the Nomenclature Specialist on the CITES Animals Committee. The committee did not agree but recommended that the name be entered into the species database as a synonym of the name under which it was listed. The proposal was based on one study that relied on only a limited number of museum and zoo samples that may not have been representative of the wild population, and a call for further fieldwork was made. Earlier, two studies had sequenced the mDNA of the Indian gray wolf and found that it is basal to all other extant Canis lupus haplotypes apart from the older-lineage Himalayan wolf. Later studies compared these sequences against worldwide wolf sequences and confirmed this basal position. One study, based on a fossil record, estimated that the divergence between the coyote and the wolf lineages occurred 1 million years ago and with an assumed wolf mutation rate, estimated that the divergence of the Indian gray wolf from the wolf/dog ancestor occurred 400,000 years ago. Another study, which expressed concerns about the earlier study, gave an estimate of 270,000 years ago. The Indian grey wolf resembles C. l. pallipes in its outer appearance (morphological features) and its social/reproductive behavior, but it is smaller in size, and genetically distinct. These findings suggest that the Indian gray wolf is not the pallipes found in the Middle East and Central Asia. It was therefore proposed that the Indian gray wolf be reclassified as a separate species Canis indica. In 2016, a study of the mDNA of both modern and ancient wolves indicated that the Indian gray wolf and the Himalayan wolf were genetically basal when compared with all other gray wolves.
In 2021, a study compared both the mitochondrial DNA and the nuclear DNA (from the cell nucleus) from the wolves of the Himalayas with those of the wolves from the lowlands of the Indian subcontinent. The genomic analyses indicate that the Himalayan wolf and the Indian lowland wolf were genetically distinct from one another. These wolves were also genetically distinct from – and genetically basal to – the other wolf populations across the northern hemisphere. These other wolves form a single mitochondrial clade, indicating that they originated from a single expansion from one region within the last 100,000 years. However, the nuclear analysis indicated that the Indian lowland wolf and the Himalayan wolf had separated from this lineage around 200,000 years ago, with the Indian lowland wolf being genetically basal to the Himalayan wolf. This nuclear DNA finding conflicts with mitochondrial DNA findings of the Himalayan wolf being the most basal, however the Himalayan wolf has admixed with a more basal but unidentified canid and this is what was being reflected in its mDNA. Wolves from Syria and Iran clustered with the other wolves, although these and the Indian lowland wolves are taxonomically classified together as the single subspecies Canis lupus pallipes. The wolves of this subspecies share morphological characteristics due to their adaptation to arid environments. In 2022 whole-genome sequencing estimated the distinct gray wolf lineage living in the semi-arid lowland region of the Indian subcontinent diverged from other gray wolf populations around 110,000 years ago. The taxonomic reference Mammal Species of the World (2005) does not recognize Canis indica, however NCBI/Genbank does list Canis lupus indica.
Iranian wolf A study demonstrated minor morphological variations of the skull of Iranian wolves but these did not vary enough to classify them as being a separate subspecies, however their genetic lineage has not been verified.
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