Canis rufus is, specifically, the red wolf. Other wolves throughout the world are the species Canis lupus. From the International Wolf Center's website: "There are two widely recognized species of wolves in the world, the red and the gray. However, there is debate over how many species of wolf exist and if there are different subspecies of the gray wolf. Additionally, there is a little-known canid, which lives in the Ethiopian highlands called Canis simensis that is thought to be a very close relative of the wolf."