Most people don't realize this, but we are smack-dab in the middle of the age of discovery for mammals. Kristofer M. Helgen, The New York Times (2009)

 

Specimens squirreled away in museum cabinets have never been more valuable to biology at large. Kristofer M. Helgen, Science (2011)

 

Curator-in-Charge, Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History
Research Associate, Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History
Research Associate, Vertebrate Zoology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum
Research Associate, Natural Science Research Laboratory, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Affiliate Professor, Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University
Study Leader, Smithsonian Journeys
Emerging Explorer, National Geographic Society
Editor, Mammal Species of the World
Board of Directors, American Society of Mammalogists
Chair of Taxonomic Advisory Group, Small Carnivore Specialist Group, IUCN
Advisory Board, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
Editorial Board, ZooKeys

 

Genome 10K Community of Scientists
Google Scholar Summary
National Geographic Society Profile
Smithsonian Journeys Profile
Science Magazine Profile
New York Times Profile

Videos

BBC: Discovery of Bosavi Giant Woolly Rat
CBS 60 Minutes: Extinction of the Thylacine
Smithsonian: Roosevelt Expedition Man-Eating Leopard
National Geographic: Future of Exploration

Helgen Research Links

Apply for a Smithsonian Fellowship
Indonesia: Foja Mountains Expeditions
Papua New Guinea: Mount Bosavi Expedition
Papua New Guinea Institute for Biological Research
Kenya: Mpala Research Centre          Dr. Hillary Young
Specimen 3D Digitization
Genome 10K
Tasmanian Devil Genomics
Thylacine Genomics
Global Mammal Assessment

Collaborating Laboratories

Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, National Zoo
William J. Murphy Lab, Texas A&M University
Alex D. Greenwood Lab, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Penn State University
Eduardo Eizirik Lab, Laboratório de Biologia Genômica e Molecular, PUCRS
Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding

Recent Field Courses

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Mammalogy Course
Papua New Guinea Institute of Biological Research Field Training Course

Education

Ph.D. (Zoology): University of Adelaide, 2007
B.A. (Biology): Harvard University, 2001

Research Interests

In my fieldwork and museum travels around the world, I have discovered approximately 100 species of mammals previously unknown to science (about 2% of the global mammal fauna), 23 of which have so far been characterized in published or pending journal articles. Describing this wealth of overlooked biodiversity forms the core of my research program. My research links specimen-based investigations of biological inventory, taxonomy, and phylogenetics to questions in comparative ecomorphology and historical biogeography, with a special focus on the Australo-Papuan and Indo-Malayan regions. I work with similar fluency on the taxonomy of essentially all groups of terrestrial mammals, and my interests and expertise extend to applications in conservation biology, wildlife management, and host-parasite and disease interactions (a collection of impacts I categorize as "applied systematics"). In my systematic and biogeographic research I collaborate especially with scientists and students in biologically megadiverse countries and with many of the foremost mammalogical taxonomists in the global arena.

My research also addresses major conceptual issues in the evolution of modern mammal faunas, such as the interrelationships of the placental mammal orders, the phylogenetic position of Primates among mammals, the nature and determinants of late Quaternary and modern extinctions, and the evolution and ecology of body size in vertebrates. In these multidisciplinary efforts I profitably collaborate with paleontologists, ecologists, and molecular and genomic biologists.

Recent Publications

Bornholdt, Renata, Helgen, Kristofer, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Oliveira, Larissa, Lucherini, Mauro and Eizirik, Eduardo 2013. Taxonomic revision of the genus Galictis (Carnivora: Mustelidae): species delimitation, morphological diagnosis, and refined mapping of geographical distribution. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 167(3): 449-472. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00859.x

Gutierrez, Eliecer E. and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2013. Outdated taxonomy blocks conservation. Nature, 495(7441): 314 doi:10.1038/495314e

Reeder, DeeAnn, Helgen, Kristofer M., Vodzak, Megan, Lunde, Darrin and Ejotre, Imran 2013. A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: insights from South Sudan. Zookeys, 285: 89-115. doi:10.3897/zookeys.285.4892

Vilstrup, Julia T., Seguin-Orlando, Andaine, Stiller, Mathias, Ginolhac, Aurelien, Raghavan, Maanasa, Nielsen, Sandra C. A., Weinstock, Jacobo, Froese, Duane, Vasiliev, Sergei K., Ovodov, Nikolai D., Clary, Joel, Helgen, Kristofer M., Fleischer, Robert C., Cooper, Alan, Shapiro, Beth and Orlando, Ludovic 2013. Mitochondrial Phylogenomics of Modern and Ancient Equids. Plos One, 8(2) doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055950

Goheen, J. R., Palmer, T. M., Charles, G. K., Helgen, Kristofer M. and Kinyua, S. N. 2013. Piecewise disassembly of a Large-Herbivore Community across a Rainfall Gradient: The UHURU Experiment. PLoS One, 8(2): 1-16. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055192

Helgen, Kristofer M., Portela Miguez, Roberto, Kohen, James and Helgen, Lauren E. 2012. Twentieth century occurrence of the Long-Beaked Echidna Zaglossus bruijnii in the Kimberley region of Australia. ZooKeys, 255: 103-132. doi:10.3897/zookeys.255.3774

Tsangaras, Kyriakos, Ávila-Arcos, María C., Ishida, Yasuko, Helgen, Kristofer M., Roca, Alfred L. and Greenwood, Alex D. 2012. Historically low mitochondrial DNA diversity in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). BMC Genetics, 13(92): 1-11. doi:10.1186/1471-2156-13-92

Wilting, Andreas, Sollmann, Rahel, Meijaard, Erik, Helgen, Kristofer M. and Fickel, Jö 2012. Mentawai's endemic, relictual fauna: is it evidence for Pleistocene extinctions on Sumatra?. Journal of Biogeography, 39(9): 1608-1620. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02717.x

Pinto, Miguel, Helgen, Kristofer M, Fleischer, Robert C and Perkins, Susan L 2012. Hepatozoon Parasites (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) in Bats. Journal of Parasitology, doi:10.1645/12-18.1

Ávila-Arcos, María C., Ho, Simon Y. W., Ishida, Yasuko, Nikolaidis, Nikolas, Tsangaras, Kyriakos, Honig, Karin, Medina, Rebeca, Rasmussen, Morten, Fordyce, Sarah L., Calvignac-Spencer, Sébastien, Willerslev, Eske, Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Helgen, Kristofer M., Roca, Alfred L. and Greenwood, Alex D. 2012. One Hundred Twenty Years of Koala Retrovirus Evolution Determined from Museum Skins. Molecular biology and evolution, 30(2): 299-304. doi:10.1093/molbev/mss223

Helgen, Kristofer M. and Opiang, Muse D. 2011. Notes on the high elevation mammal fauna of the Kaijende Highlands, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. Rapid Assessment Program Bulletin of Biological Assessment, 60: 235-245.

Helgen, Kristofer M., Opiang, Muse D. and Thomas, William H. 2011. The mammal fauna of Wanakipa, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Rapid Assessment Program Bulletin of Biological Assessment, 60: 246-258.

Kawai, Kuniko and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2011. Rediscovering a specimen of Eptesicus nilsonii from Japan, which is preserved in Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Rishiri Kenkyu, 30: 89-92.

Miller, Webb, Hayes, Vanessa M., Ratan, Aakrosh, Petersen, Desiree C., Wittekindt, Nicola E., Miller, Jason, Walenz, Brian, Knight, James, Qi, Ji, Zhao, Fangqing, Wang, Qingyu, Bedoya-Reina, Oscar C., Katiyar, Neerja, Tomsho, Lynn P., McClellan Kasson, Lindsay, Hardie, Rae-Anne, Woodbridge, Paula, Tindall, Elizabeth A., Bertelsen, Mads Frost, Dixon, Dale, Pyecroft, Stephen, Helgen, Kristofer M., Lesk, Arthur M., Pringle, Thomas H., Patterson, Nick, et al 2011. Genetic diversity and population structure of the endangered marsupial Sarcophilus harrisii (Tasmanian devil). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(30): 12348-12353. doi:10.1073/pnas.1102838108

Mason, Victor C., Li, Gang, Helgen, Kristofer M. and Murphy, William J. 2011. Efficient cross-species capture hybridization and next-generation sequencing of mitochondrial genomes from noninvasively sampled museum specimens. Genome research, 21(10): 1695-1704. doi:10.1101/gr.120196.111

Helgen, Kristofer M. 2011. The Mammal Family Tree. Science, 334(6055): 458-459. doi:10.1126/science.1214544

McDade, Lucinda A., Maddison, David R., Guralnick, Robert, Piwowar, Heather A., Jameson, Mary Liz, Helgen, Kristofer M., Herendeen, Patrick S., Hill, Andrew and Vis, Morgan L. 2011. Biology Needs a Modern Assessment System for Professional Productivity. Bioscience, 61(8): 619-625. doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.8.8

Asher, Robert J. and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2011. High level Mammalian taxonomy: a response to Hedges (2011). Zootaxa, 3092: 63-64.

Aplin, K. P. and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2010. Quaternary murid rodents of Timor. Part I. New material of Coryphomys buehleri Schaub, 1937, and description of a second species of the genus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 341: 1-80.

Brooks, Thomas M. and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2010. A standard for species. Nature, 467: 540-541.

Asher, Robert and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2010. Nomenclature and placental mammal phylogeny. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 10(1): 102

Helgen, Kristofer M., Leary, Tanya and Aplin, Kenneth P. 2010. A Review of Microhydromys (Rodentia: Murinae), with Description of a New Species from Southern New Guinea. American Museum Novitates, 3676: 1-22.

Helgen, Kristofer M. 2010. A megadiverse fauna revealed. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 16: 145-147.

Goodman, S. M. and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2010. Species limits and distribution of the Malagasy carnivoran genus Eupleres (family Eupleridae). Mammalia, 74: 177-185.

Aplin, K. P., Helgen, Kristofer M. and Lunde, D. P. 2010. A review of Peroryctes broadbenti, the Giant Bandicoot of Papua New Guinea. American Museum Novitates, 3696: 1-41.

Miller, Webb, Drautz, Daniela I., Janecka, Jan E., Lesk, Arthur M., Ratan, Aakrosh, Tomsho, Lynn P., Packard, Mike, Zhang, Yeting, McClellan, Lindsay R., Qi, Ji, Zhao, Fangqing, Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Dalen, Love, Arsuaga, Juan Luis, Ericson, Per G. P., Huson, Daniel H., Helgen, Kristofer M., Murphy, William J., Gotherstrom, Anders and Schuster, Stephan C. 2009. The mitochondrial genome sequence of the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Genome research, 19(2): 213-220. doi:10.1101/gr.082628.108

Helgen, Kristofer M., Cole, F. Russell, Helgen, Lauren E. and Wilson, Don E. 2009. Generic Revision in the Holarctic Ground Squirrel Genus Spermophilus. Journal of mammalogy, 90(2): 270-305.

Schipper, J., Helgen, Kristofer M., Belant, J. L., Gonzalez-Maya, J., Eizirik, E. and Tsuchiya-Jerep, M. 2009. Small carnivores in the Americas: reflections, future research and conservation priorities. Small Carnivore Conservation, 41: 1-2.

Helgen, Kristofer M., Kays, Roland W., Helgen, Lauren E., Tsuchiya-Jerep, Mirian T. N., Pinto, C. Miguel, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Eizirik, Eduardo and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2009. Taxonomic boundaries and geographic distributions revealed by an integrative systematic overview of the mountain coatis, Nasuella (Carnivora: Procyonidae). Small Carnivore Conservation, 41(1): 65-74.

Helgen, Kristofer M. and Helgen, Lauren E. 2009. Biodiversity and biogeography of the moss-mice of New Guinea: a taxonomic revision of Pseudohydromys (Muridae: Murinae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 331: 230-313.

Haussler, David, O'Brien, Stephen J., Ryder, Oliver A., Barker, F. Keith, Clamp, Michele, Crawford, Andrew J., Hanner, Robert, Hanotte, Olivier, Johnson, Warren E., McGuire, Jimmy A., Miller, Webb, Murphy, Robert W., Murphy, William J., Sheldon, Frederick H., Sinervo, Barry, Venkatesh, Byrappa, Wiley, Edward O., Allendorf, Fred W., Amato, George, Baker, C. Scott, Bauer, Aaron, Beja-Pereira, Albano, Bermingham, Eldredge, Bernardi, Giacomo, Bonvicino, Cibele R., et al 2009. Genome 10K: A Proposal to Obtain Whole-Genome Sequence for 10 000 Vertebrate Species. Journal of Heredity, 100(6): 659-674. doi:10.1093/jhered/esp086

Helgen, Kristofer M., Helgen, Lauren E. and Wilson, Don E. 2009. Pacific flying foxes (Mammalia: Chiroptera): Two new species of Pteropus from Samoa, probably extinct. American Museum Novitates, 3646: 1-37.

Schipper, Jan, Helgen, Kristofer M., Belant, J. L., Gonzalez-Maya, Jose-Fernando, Eizirik, Eduardo and Tsuchiya-Jerep, Mirian T. N. 2009. Special Issue: The Americas. Small Carnivore Conservation, 41

Complete List of Helgen's Publications and Downloadable PDFs