The wolf from Grotta Romanelli (Apulia, Italy) and its implications in the evolutionary history of Canis lupus in the Late Pleistocene of Southern Italy

The Late Pleistocene wolves from Apulia can be included in a single group, morphologically and morphometrically homogeneous. Although the wolf from Grotta Romanelli shares some similarities with the Early-Middle Pleistocene C. mosbachensis, its overall morphology and proportions fall into the wide variability of the extant C. lupus. Moreover, this determination is much more parsimonious than the taxonomic attribution of the “Apulian wolves” (including the Romanelli specimens) to C. mosbachensis, a typical late Early-Middle Pleistocene species, whose survival in Apulia during the Late Pleistocene is not adequately supported.