Chapter 17, Problem 23P

Wolves and coyotes can interbreed in captivity; and now, because of changes in their habitat distribution, they may have the opportunity to interbreed in the wild. To examine this possibility, mitochondrial DNA from wolf and coyote populations throughout North America $-$ including habitats where the two species both reside $-$ was analyzed, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed from the resulting data (see Section $1.4$ for details on how this is accomplished). Sequence from a jackal was used as an outgroup and a sequence from a domestic dog was included, demonstrating wolves as the origin of domestic dogs. What do you conclude about potential interspecific hybridization between wolves and coyotes on the basis of this phylogenetic tree?