Real foxes
| Real foxes | ||||||||||||
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Red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Vulpini | ||||||||||||
| Hemprich & Ehrenberg , 1832 |
As True foxes (Vulpini) refers to a generic group of the family of dogs (Canidae).
The best known and most widespread fox species is the red fox , which is why this species is often viewed as “the fox”. However, the genus is diverse: the smallest species of the real fox is the fennec , which has adapted ideally to a life in the desert. The island gray fox , which is only found on the Channel Islands of California, is only slightly larger . It is thus an endemic species. It evolved from the gray fox in evolutionary terms and is an example of island dwarfing .
Systematics
From a biological point of view, foxes are not a systematic group, but rather species of dogs (Canidae) that have become similar due to convergent evolution . The classic system distinguishes the real foxes (Vulpini) from dog species that actually belong to the genus group of real dogs (Canini), but are called "foxes" because of their appearance.
- Tribe real foxes (Vulpini)
- Genus Vulpes with twelve species
- Genus Nyctereutes with the raccoon dog ( Nyctereutes procyonoides ) as the only species
- Genus Otocyon with the spoonhound ( Otocyon megalotis ) as the only species
The real foxes do not include the gray foxes ( Urocyon ), which have a basal position within the dogs, the short-eared fox ( Atelocyon microtis ), the extinct Falkland fox ( Dusicyon australis ) and the South American species of the genus Lycalopex , which are known as fighting foxes, as well the Andean fox ( Dusicyon culpaeus ), now classified as the Andean jackal ( Lycalopex culpaeus ).
In a system of dogs by Lindblad-Toh et al. In 2005, based on molecular genetic studies, the real foxes were identified as a non- monophyletic group. I.e. there is no common ancestor of the Vulpini from which exactly these genera descend (and no other canine species). Were compared while about 15 kilobases of exon - and intron - sequences . According to this study, the species of gray foxes ( Urocyon ) form their own branch called the gray fox clade, which is compared to all other current canine species as the most primitive group. The branch with the remaining species (red fox clade), which have been referred to as real foxes until now, also contains the raccoon dog ( Nyctereutes procyonoides ).
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Phylogenetic systematics of dogs
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Others
The foxes that live in Japan are commonly called kitsune . However, this is not a biological classification, because this term includes both the arctic fox or the arctic fox ( Alopex lagopus ) and two subspecies of the red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Kerstin Lindblad-Toh et al .: "Resolving canid phylogeny." Section in: Kerstin Lindblad-Toh et al .: Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog. Nature 438, December 2005; Page 803–819.
