<< On Earth _at_ least D&W evolved quite seperately. Dogs are decended from the asiatic 'wolf' (Australian dingo) wolves from something more akin to a bear ( not bear as such but a common ancestor), hence the seperate genus. >>
If this is the case it must be a pretty recent discovery. Every zoology and paleontology text I have, including one specifically on the evolution of mammalian carnivores and written as recently as 1992, lists the wolf as 'Canis lupus' and as very closely related to the dog. Another states that the dingo probably evolved from the wolf. Good grief, dogs and wolves are interfertile, husky/wolf crosses being particularly common. My book on carnivore evolution quotes dogs and wolves as diverging less than 2 million years ago, but canines and bears as diverging around 40 million years ago.
I'm not sure what animal you're thinking of (fox? they at least diverged from other canines at a fairly early stage), but I don't think it's a wolf.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
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