Armbruster's wolf (Canis armbrusteri) is an extinct species that was endemic to North America and lived during the Irvingtonian stage[1] of the Pleistocene epoch, spanning from 1.9 Mya—250,000 years BP.

[2] It is notable because it is proposed as the ancestor of one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores in North America, the dire wolf, which replaced it.

[1]: 148  Based on morphology from China, the Pliocene wolf C. chihliensis may have been the ancestor for both C. armbrusteri and C. lupus before their migration into North America.

[10][5]: p243  The two taxa share a number of characteristics (synapomorphy), suggesting an origin of C. dirus in the late Irvingtonian around central America in open terrain habitats, with later eastward expansion and displacement of C.

Concurrently, Coyotes, dholes, gray wolves, and the extinct Xenocyon ostensibly evolved in Eurasia and expanded into North America more recently, during the Late Pleistocene, and did not experience admixture with the dire wolf.