<P> Similarities between jackals and coyotes led Lorenz Oken, in the third volume of his Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte (1815), to place these species into a new separate genus, Thos, named after the classical Greek word θώς "jackal", but his theory had little immediate impact on taxonomy at the time . Angel Cabrera, in his 1932 monograph on the mammals of Morocco, questioned whether or not the presence of a cingulum on the upper molars of the jackals and its corresponding absence in the rest of Canis could justify a subdivision of that genus . In practice, Cabrera chose the undivided - genus alternative and referred to the jackals as Canis instead of Thos . </P> <P> Oken's Thos theory was revived in 1914 by Edmund Heller, who embraced the separate genus theory . Heller's names and the designations he gave to various jackal species and subspecies live on in current taxonomy, although the genus has been changed from Thos to Canis . </P> <P> The wolf - like canids are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because they all have 78 chromosomes . The group includes genus Canis, Cuon, and Lycaon . The members are the dog (C. lupus familiaris), gray wolf (C. lupus), coyote (C. latrans), golden jackal (C. aureus), Ethiopian wolf (C. simensis), black - backed jackal (C. mesomelas), side - striped jackal (C. adustus), dhole (Cuon alpinus), and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). The latest recognized member is the African golden wolf (C. anthus), which was once thought to be an African branch of the golden jackal . As they possess 78 chromosomes, all members of the genus Canis (coyotes, wolves, jackals) are karyologically indistinguishable from each other, and from the dhole and the African hunting dog . The two African jackals are shown to be the most basal members of this clade, indicating the clade's origin from Africa . Canis arnensis arrived in Mediterranean Europe 1.9 million years ago and is probably the ancestor of modern jackals . </P> <P> One writer proposes that the genus name for the two African jackals should be changed from Canis to Lupulella . </P>

What is the difference between a jackal and a coyote