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Australian Mammalogy Australian Mammalogy Society
Journal of the Australian Mammal Society
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Volume 47 Number 3 2025

AM24052Taxonomic tangles posed by human association – the urgent need for an evidence-based review of dingo and domestic dog taxonomy and nomenclature

Kylie M. Cairns 0000-0003-3700-2854, Mike Letnic, Euan G. Ritchie, Justin W. Adams, Mathew S. Crowther 0000-0001-8968-1161, Christopher R. Dickman 0000-0002-1067-3730, Melanie Fillios, Jack Pascoe, Bradley P. Smith 0000-0002-0873-3917 and Thomas M. Newsome

A photograph of two ginger dingoes walking in a green field.

The naming and species status of dingoes is hotly debated and has serious policy implications. We outline recent advances in our knowledge of the distinctiveness of dingoes from domestic dogs, highlighting how dingoes are on a different evolutionary path. Resolving debate about the status and name of dingoes will likely require an independent review by a scientific organisation with broad community consultation, similar to the review carried out for Mexican wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) and red wolves (Canis rufus).

Behaviour-driven capture biases (where consistent differences in behaviour among individuals affect their probability of being captured) have the potential to confound studies of animal behaviour and population ecology. This study explicitly tests whether there is any correlation between agitation behaviour and capture probability in wild woylies, finding no evidence for an effect. This finding suggests that studies of woylies using live trapping are unlikely to be confounded by behaviour-driven sampling biases arising from this particular trait.

Committee on Publication Ethics

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