Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
March 23, 1821
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 112
Additional Source Text:
"Zoological Specimen . . . prepared by Titian Peale, Assistant Naturalist, for the Exploring Expedition, and deposited in the Philadelphia Museum by Major S. H. Long. Maj. U.S. Eng[ineers pursuant to instructions of the Secretary of War."
Notes:
Thomas Say described two species of prairie wolf in the Account of the Long Expedition: Canis latrans (the coyote) and Canis nubilus (now Canis lupus nubilus, the Great Plains wolf, dusky wolf). Edwin James, Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819 and '20, by Order of the Hon. J.C. Calhoun, Sec'y of War: Under the Command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the Notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other Gentlemen of the Exploring Party, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1823), 1: 168-174 / https://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.20044762?urlappend=%3Bseq=184
Except for red wolves (Canis rufus), all living North American wolves are now considered to be one of more than 30 recognized subspecies of Canis lupus.
Titian Ramsay Peale executed a watercolor of what he called the dusky wolf Canis nubilus (Say) while engaged on the Long Expedition, presented to the Museum on 23 Mar 1821, pictured here. Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 112
John D. Godman (1794-1830) described and illustrated Canis latrans Say, which he called the barking, or prarie wolf and is now known as the coyote, in his American Natural History, Part I -- Mastology, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1826), p. 260-264 / https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t4wh6dv4h?urlappend=%3Bseq=…. His illustration, pictured here, was based on the specimen in the Peale Museum.
Godman also described an illustrated Canis nubilus, the dusky wolf, on pp. 265-266 / https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t4wh6dv4h?urlappend=%3Bseq=302; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t4wh6dv4h?urlappend=%3Bseq=293
Richard Harlan also described this species in Fauna Americana: Being a Description of the Mammiferous Animals Inhabitating North America, pp. 84-86 / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3194407
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Peale's Common Name:
Great Plains wolf, dusky wolf
Current Common Name:
Dusky wolf
Current Scientific Name
Canis lupus nubilus
