The wolf (Canis lupus) comes from a long evolutionary history in Western Europe. The emergence and development of first Canis in Europe constitute an important bio event called the "Wolf-event". The phylogeny of this genus from this event to modern time is still debated. To bring new elements in the discussion, we have made analysis on the variability of modern wolves and studied several Pleistocene series from southern France. Our results, based on modern populations, brings important information for the analysis of fossil remains. On the basis of the important variability in size and form evident between inter and intra modern populations of wolves, we propose here, new hypothesis about the phylogeny of the genus Canis.
Cadre évolutif et écologique d'une " bête du Gévaudan ": les loups quaternaires