Canis mosbachensis
| Canis mosbachensis Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Middle Pleistocene  | |
|---|---|
| Skull from Würzburg-Schalksberg | |
| Life restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota | 
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Chordata | 
| Class: | Mammalia | 
| Order: | Carnivora | 
| Family: | Canidae | 
| Genus: | Canis | 
| Species: | †C. mosbachensis | 
| Binomial name | |
| †Canis mosbachensis Soergel, 1925 | |
| Possible subspecies | |
| Canis mosbachensis variabilis Pei, 1934 | |
Canis mosbachensis is an extinct wolf that inhabited Europe from the late Early Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene, around 1.4 million to 400,000 years ago. Canis mosbachensis is widely considered to have descended from the earlier Canis etruscus, and to be the ancestor of the living grey wolf (Canis lupus) with some considering it as a subspecies of the wolf as Canis lupus mosbachensis. The morphological distinction between C. mosbachensis and C. lupus has historically been vague, and attribution of fossils to C. mosbachensis or to C. lupus around the transition time between the two species is ambiguous.