A report on the taxonomic status and distribution of the red wolf.

Comparison of 213 skulls of Canis rufus with 214 C. lupus and 336 C. latrans indicates that the red wolf is a distinct species. Apparently extensive habitat modification and decline of the red wolf population, both attributable to man, led to the breakdown of isolation and the formation of a hybrid swarm. By 1969, the swarm had spread throughout most of eastern Texas and had moved into Louisiana. Pure red wolves continued to survive only in a limited area along the Gulf Coast from Brazoria County (east of the Brazos River) east to Chambers and Orange Counties, Texas and in Cameron Parish.