Education

Ph.D. (Biology): Harvard University, 1964
M.A. (Biology): Harvard University, 1963
B.A. (Biology): Princeton University, 1959

Research Interests

My research focuses on squirrels and primates. I am currently studying the phylogeny of the Southeast Asian tree squirrel subfamily Nannosciurinae with Melissa Roberts et al. Our research shows that the phylogeny results from a dynamic biogeographic past, and the patterns of speciation are associated with climatic variation and sea level changes.

Manuscripts in progress include Gliding Mammals: Taxonomy of Living and Extinct Species with Steve Jackson, Smithsonian Publications in Zoology, currently in press. Also in press is Squirrels of the World, coauthored by John Koprowski, Michael Steele, and James Whatton, to be published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2012. I am currently writing a book on suburban natural history, ranging from accounts of squirrels and cicadas to discussions of the ecological implications of artificial lighting and anthropogenic noise.

Recent Publications

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Heliosciurus punctatus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.65

Peterhans, J. K. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Heliosciurus ruwenzorii. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.68-69.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Paraxerus cooperi. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.79-80.

Schennum, C. E. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Paraxerus flavovittis. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.80-81.

Schennum, C. E. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Paraxerus lucifer. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.81-82.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Paraxerus ochraceus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.82-83.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr., Pappas, L. A. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Paraxerus palliatus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.84-85.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Sciuridae family. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.38-40.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Idiurus genus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.611-612.

Kawashima, Tomokazu, Thorington, Richard W., Jr., Murakami, Kunio and Sato, Fumi 2013. Evolutionary Anatomy and Phyletic Implication of the Extrinsic Cardiac Nervous System in the Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta, Primates) in Comparisons With Strepsirrhines and New World Monkeys. Anatomical Record (Hoboken, N.J.: 2007), doi:10.1002/ar.22680

Thorington, Richard W., Jr., Pappas, L. A. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Funisciurus bayoni. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.50-51.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr., Pappas, L. A. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Funisciurus congicus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.52-54.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Funisciurus substriatus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.60-61.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Paraxerus vexillarius. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.87-88.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Schennum, C. E. 2013. Paraxerus vincenti. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.88-89.

Stafford, B. J. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Idiurus macrotis . In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.612-613.

Schennum, C. E. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Allosciurus aubinnii . In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.41

Stafford, B. J. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Idiurus zenkeri . In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.614-614.

Stafford, B. J. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Zenkerella insignis . In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.616-617.

Kawashima, Tomokazu, Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Sato, Fumi 2013. Systematic and comparative morphologies of the extrinsic cardiac nervous system in lemurs (Primates: Strepsirrhini: Infraorder Lemuriformes, Gray, 1821) with evolutionary morphological implications. Zoologischer Anzeiger - A Journal of Comparative Zoology, 252(1): 101-117. doi:10.1016/j.jcz.2012.04.001

Schennum, C. E. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Heliosciurus undulatus. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.69-70.

Pappas, L. A. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2013. Paraxerus cepapi. In: Happold, D. C. D., Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.77-79.

Thorington, Richard W., Jr., Koprowski, John L., Steele, Michael A. and Whatton, James F. 2012. Squirrels of the World Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 459 pages.

Jackson, Stephen M. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2012. Gliding Mammals: Taxonomy of Living and Extinct Species. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 638: 1-117. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.638.1

Kawashima, Tomokazu and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2011. Comparative Morphological Configuration of the Cardiac Nervous System in Lorises and Galagos (Infraorder Lorisiformes, Strepsirrhini, Primates) with Evolutionary Perspective. The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 294(3): 412-426.

den Tex, Robert-Jan, Maldonado, Jesús E., Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2010. Nuclear copies of mitochondrial genes: another problem for ancient DNA. Genetica, 138(9): 979-984.

den Tex, Robert-Jan, Thorington, Richard W., Jr., Maldonado, Jesús E. and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2010. Speciation dynamics in the SE Asian tropics: Putting a time perspective on the phylogeny and biogeography of Sundaland tree squirrels, Sundasciurus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 55(2010): 711-720.

Huynh, Howard M., Williams, Geoffrey R., McAlpine, Donald F. and Thorington, Richard W., Jr. 2010. Establishment of the Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Nova Scotia, Canada. Northeastern Naturalist, 17(4): 673-677.

Cardini, A., Nagorsen, D., O'Higgins, P., Polly, P. D., Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Tongiorgi, P. 2009. Detecting biological distinctiveness using geometric morphometrics: an example case from the Vancouver Island marmot. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 21(3-4): 209-223.

Kawashima, Tomokazu, Thorington, Richard W., Jr. and Whatton, James F. 2009. Comparative Anatomy and Evolution of the Cardiac Innervation in New World Monkeys (Platyrrhini, E. Geoffroy, 1812). The Anatomical Record, 292(5): 670-691. doi:10.1002/ar.20894

Complete List of Thorington's Publications and Downloadable PDFs