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

Janečka, J. E., W. Miller, T. H. Pringle, F. Wiens, A. Zitzmann, K. M. Helgen, M. S. Springer, and W. J. Murphy. 2007. Molecular and genomic data identify the closest living relative of Primates. Science 318: 792-794.

Groves, C. P., and K. M. Helgen. 2007. Craniodental characters in the taxonomy of the sifakas (Propithecus). International Journal of Primatology 28: 1363-1383.

Helgen, K. M. 2007. The mammal fauna of the Kaijende Highlands, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. Conservation International Rapid Assessment Program Bulletin of Biological Assessment 45: 52-68.

Reeder, D. M., K. M. Helgen, and D. E. Wilson. 2007. Global trends and biases in new mammal species discoveries. Occasional Papers of the Museum at Texas Tech University 269: 1-36.

Li, G., B. Liang, Y. Wang, H. Zhao, K. M. Helgen, L. Lin, G. Jones, and S. Y. Zhang. 2007. Echolocation calls, diet, and phylogenetic relationships of Stoliczka’s Trident Bat Aselliscus stoliczkanus (Hipposideridae). Journal of Mammalogy 88: 736-744.

Helgen, K. M., D. Kock, R. K. S. C. Gomez, N. R. Ingle, and M. H. Sinaga. 2007. Taxonomy and natural history of the South-East Asian fruit-bat genus Dyacopterus. Journal of Mammalogy 88: 302-318.

Helgen, K. M. 2007. A taxonomic and geographic overview of the mammals of Papua. Pp. 689-749 in: The Ecology of Papua (Ecology of Indonesia series Volume VI, Part One), A. J. Marshall and B. M. Beehler (editors), Periplus Editions, Singapore.

Helgen, K. M., R. T. Wells, B. P. Kear, W. L. Gerdtz, and T. F. Flannery. 2006. Ecological and evolutionary significance of sizes of giant extinct kangaroos. Australian Journal of Zoology 54: 293-303.

Wilson, D. E., K. M. Helgen, Chin Sing Yun, and B. Giman. 2006. Results of small mammal surveys at two sites in planted forest zones, Bintulu, Sarawak. Malayan Nature Journal 59: 165-187.

Helgen, K. M. 2005. Systematics of the Pacific monkey-faced bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae), with a new species of Pteralopex and a new Fijian genus. Systematics and Biodiversity 3: 433-453.

Helgen, K. M. 2005. A new species of murid rodent (genus Mayermys) from south-eastern New Guinea. Mammalian Biology 70: 61-67.

Helgen, K. M. 2005. The amphibious murines of New Guinea (Rodentia, Muridae): the generic status of Baiyankamys and description of a new species of Hydromys. Zootaxa 913: 1-20.

Helgen, K. M., and D. E. Wilson. 2005. A systematic and zoogeographic overview of the raccoons of Mexico and Central America. Pp. 221-236 in: Contribuciones Mastozoológicas: en Homenaje a Bernardo Villa, V. Sanchez-Cordero and R.A. Medellin (editors), Instituto de Biologia e Instituto de Ecologia, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.

Helgen, K. M., and C. P. Groves. 2005. Biodiversity in Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats. Science 308: 199.