n 1758, the Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus published in his Systema

Naturae the binomial nomenclature – or the two-word naming – of species. Canis is the Latin word

meaning "dog",[21] and under this genus he listed the dog-like carnivores including domestic dogs,
wolves, and jackals. He classified the domestic dog as Canis familiaris, and on the next page he
classified the wolf as Canis lupus.[2] Linnaeus considered the dog to be a separate species from the
wolf because of its cauda recurvata - its upturning tail which is not found in any other canid.[22]
In 1999, a study of mitochondrial DNA indicated that the domestic dog may have originated from
multiple grey wolf populations, with the dingo and New Guinea singing dog "breeds" having
developed at a time when human populations were more isolated from each other. [23] In the third
edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher
Wozencraft listed under the wolf Canis lupus its wild subspecies, and proposed two additional
subspecies: "familiaris Linneaus, 1758 [domestic dog]" and "dingo Meyer, 1793 [domestic dog]".
Wozencraft included hallstromi – the New Guinea singing dog – as a taxonomic synonym for the
dingo. Wozencraft referred to the mDNA study as one of the guides in forming his decision. [4] The
inclusion of familiaris and dingo under a "domestic dog" clade has been noted by other
mammalogists.[24] This classification by Wozencraft is debated among zoologists.[25]
In 2019, a workshop hosted by the IUCN/Species Survival Commission's Canid Specialist Group
considered the New Guinea singing dog and the dingo to be feral dogs Canis familiaris, and
therefore should not be assessed for the IUCN Red List.[26]