Vulpes: The Evolution of Foxes - An
Introduction
Figure one: Various true foxes: left to right, top to
bottom: Vulpes vulpes, Vulpes rueppellii,
Vulpes corsac, Vulpes bengalensis, Vulpes lagopus, Vulpes cana, Vulpes chama,
Vulpes zerda and Vulpes velox.
Vulpes is the genus of foxes within the Canidae family. The
members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, as
the cluster includes many of the Old World species (Macdonald, 2009). This genus is compromised of numerous species
that inhabit a wide range of habitats and climatic conditions (Kumar,
et al., 2015). The appearance of
species within the genus include: a pointed muzzle, triangular and erect ears,
a long and bushy tail, a flattened skull (when compared to Canis), the tip of the tail is generally a different colour to that
of the rest of the coat with black triangular face marks between the eyes and
nose (Macdonald, 2009). Each of the following species has evolved differently
to best suit its environment niche, habitat and climatic conditions that have
all shaped this Old World genus. The Red
fox (Vulpes vulpes), Rüppell’s fox (Vulpes rueppellii), Corsac fox (Vulpes corsac), Bengal fox (Vulpes
bengalensis), Arctic fox (Vulpes
lagopus), Blanford’s fox (Vulpes
cana), Cape’s fox (Vulpes chama), Fennec
fox (Vulpes zerda) and swift fox (Vulpes velox). This blog aims to demonstrate how each species
has evolved to best suit its surrounding environment.
Love the pictures Caitlyn! What do you mean by “Old World”?
ReplyDelete"Old World", in this context, refers to the time period before America was founded. Basically it consisted of Africa, Europe, and Asia (the world known to Europeans at the time).
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