Reply to Dwyer and Minnegal: Genetics supersedes observational records regarding New Guinea canids.

Surbakti et al. (1) seeks to validate the identity of the New Guinea highland wild dogs (HWD) using genomics, characterize the shared origin of HWD with modern captive New Guinea singing dogs (NGSD), and determine their relatedness to other Oceanic canids. Dwyer and Minnegal (2, 3) argue that, prior to colonization, NGSD and HWD were not discrete from New Guinea village dogs. Their critique rests on two arguments. First, they claim that the New Guinea village dog data used by us from Shannon et al. (4) were not appropriate and entirely sourced from urban areas. Second, using morphological and behavioral … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: bdavis{at}cvm.tamu.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1