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Red Foxes Carry Rüppell’s Fox Mitochondrial Lineages From at Least Two Introgression Events

Wild Rüppell's fox in Egypt
Research · Genetics & genomics

A genetic study published in 2026 found that red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) carry mitochondrial lineages originating from Rüppell’s fox (Vulpes rueppellii), with the data pointing to at least two separate introgression events in the past. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited through the maternal line in mammals, while introgression is the transfer of genetic material between species through hybridisation followed by repeated backcrossing. The researchers describe the deeply divergent lineages as genetic traces of old Rüppell’s fox populations whose mitochondrial variants are no longer represented among the Rüppell’s foxes sampled today.

The team analysed 85 complete mitogenomes from the two fox species, including newly sequenced samples from Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates, together with 320 partial mitochondrial DNA sequences covering a much wider geographic range. Eight mitogenomes obtained from red fox samples grouped within the Rüppell’s fox cluster. Seven belonged to one lineage found in Türkiye, Iran and Tunisia, while a second lineage was represented by a red fox sample from Iran.

Map of red fox and Rüppell's fox mitogenome sampling locations across Europe, North Africa and Asia
Geographic locations of the 85 red fox and Rüppell’s fox mitogenomes analysed in the study. Figure 1 from Rocha et al. (2026), Scientific Reports, CC BY 4.0. Source.

Rüppell’s-fox-like lineages occurred across a wide region

The larger partial-DNA dataset also contained Rüppell’s-fox-like variants among red foxes across North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. In the intensive sampling from Türkiye, seven of 80 red foxes carried these mitochondrial variants. The phylogenetic pattern and genetic distances were consistent with introgression moving from Rüppell’s fox into red fox rather than in the opposite direction, although the authors note that alternative scenarios cannot be excluded completely.

Molecular-clock estimates placed the common ancestor of the introgressed and contemporary Rüppell’s fox mitochondrial lineages at about 228,000 years ago, although the uncertainty around the estimate was broad. This predates the estimated diversification of the currently sampled Rüppell’s fox mitochondrial lineages, around 72,000 years ago. The authors suggest that past climatic shifts may have brought the species into secondary contact and helped create the asymmetric pattern of mitochondrial exchange seen today.

Sources and image credit

  1. Rocha, R. G., Hassan, A. A., Demirtaş, S., Meneses-Ribeiro, M., Rocha, J. L., Gündüz, İ., & Godinho, R. (2026). Multiple introgression events from ghost Rüppell’s fox mitochondrial lineages into red fox. Scientific Reports, 16, 10772. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45528-8Primary open-access research article published 28 March 2026 under CC BY 4.0. The study analysed 85 mitogenomes and 320 partial mitochondrial DNA sequences from red and Rüppell’s foxes. Two deeply divergent Rüppell’s fox mitochondrial lineages occurred among red foxes, consistent with at least two introgression events; the larger dataset showed introgressed variants across North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Image: Jesper Särnesjö / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — wild Rüppell’s fox photographed in Egypt on 18 June 2009; representative image of one of the two study species · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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