EVOLUTION

In December of 1834 Charles Darwin collected this unique creature seeming to be a fox from Chiloé Archipelago. It was later to be found to not technically be a fox, but rather sharing a closer ancestor with wolves (Wikipedia, 2023).  This fox like wolf shares many outside appearances to those in the canine order with bone structure and function, coat, geographic zones, and more. It was observed that this "fox" had a few distinct markers from other canine family members in their phylogenetic tree.  Just a few differences would be in mostly living in solitude and they have been found to be omnivorous at times. They also have darker fur, shorter legs, smaller bone structure of the skull, and have a calmer demeanor when compared to others of the genus Lycalopex (Wikipedia, 2023). According to Wikipedia (2023) when anaylsising the DNA of the Darwin's Fox and the gray fox in 1996, it was discovered that the Darwin's Fox was a new species entirely. Darwin's Fox was previously classified as Pseudalopex fulvipes and is currently classified as Lycalopex fulvipes, due to all South American foxes combining into a single monophyletic genus (IUNC, 2016). This new species developing likely occured due to geographic changes causing populations in a remote area of Chile and the Chiloe Island or allopatric speciation. Darwin's Fox is a unique species with an even more intriguing classification and evolutionary story to follow. 

Keywords: Lycalopex fulvipes , Chiloe Archipelago, phylogenetic tree, monophyletic genus, allopatric speciation.

Sources:

Mauro Lucherini (Argentine National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research), Jiménez, J. E., Silva-Rodríguez, E., Farias, A., Moreira-Arce, D., Cabello, J., & Hidalgo-Hermoso, E. (2016, March 4). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved January 2023, from http://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41586/107263066#taxonomy

Explore the taxonomic tree. FWS.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved January 2023, from http://www.fws.gov/taxonomic-tree/3005286

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, January 12). Darwin's Fox. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_fox

Is a Fox a type of wolf? - quora. (2019). Retrieved January 2023, from https://www.quora.com/Is-a-fox-a-type-of-wolf