Dog 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. In the third edition of "Mammal Species of the World" published in 2005, the mammalogist 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.
EDGE species have few close relatives and have been evolving independently for many millions of years. Others like the domestic dog originated only recently and have many close relatives. Species uniqueness’ can be measured as an 'Evolutionary Distinctiveness' (ED) score, using a phylogeny, or evolutionary tree. ED scores are calculated relative to a clade of species descended from a common ancestor. The three clades for which the EDGE of Existence Programme has calculated scores are all classes, namely mammals, amphibians, and corals. The phylogenetic tree has the most recent common ancestor at the root, all the current species as the leaves, and