These are selected publications by multiple Mammal Group members (in bold). See also our people page or click here for Asher pubs only.

2013

Benoit J, Crumpton N, Mérigeaud S, Tabuce R. 2013 In Press. A Memory Already like an Elephant’s? The Advanced Brain Morphology of the Last Common Ancestor of Afrotheria (Mammalia). Brain Behavior and Evolution.

Hautier L
, Bennet NC, Viljoen H, Howard L, Milinkovitch MC, Tzika AC, Goswami A, Asher RJ. 2013 In Press.
Patterns of ossification in southern versus northern placental mammals. Evolution.

Bärmann EV, Rössner GE, Wörheide G. 2013 In press. A revised phylogeny of Antilopini (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) using combined mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

Werneburg I, Tzika AC, Hautier L, Asher RJ, Milinkovitch MC, Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2013. Development and embryonic staging in non-model organisms: the case of an afrotherian mammal. Journal of Anatomy 222(1):2-18.


2012

Crumpton N, Thompson RS.
2012 In Press. The Holes of Moles: Osteological Correlates of the Trigeminal Nerve in Talpidae. Journal of Mammalian Evolution.

Thompson RS, Parish JC, Maidment SCR, Barrett PM. 2012. Phylogeny of the ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10: 301-312.

Thompson RS, Bärmann EV, Asher RJ.
2012. The Interpretation of Hidden Support in Combined Data Phylogenetics. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 50(4):251–263.

Billet G, Hautier L, Asher RJ, Schwarz C, Crumpton N, Martin T, Ruf I. 2012. High morphological variation of vestibular system accompanies slow and infrequent locomotion in three-toed sloths. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279(1744):3932-3939. See also coverage in Science, Nature, Huffington Post, Why Evolution Is True, and on our own Nick Crumpton's Tumblr page.

Asher RJ, Müller J. 2012. Molecular Tools in Paleobiology: Divergence and Mechanisms. pp. 1-15 in Asher RJ, Müller J (Eds). From Clone to Bone: The Synergy of Morphological and Molecular Tools in Palaeobiology. Cambridge University Press.

Asher RJ, Müller J (Eds). 2012. From Clone to Bone: The Synergy of Morphological and Molecular Tools in Palaeobiology. Cambridge University Press.

Asher RJ. 2012. Evolutionary Biology and Scepticism: the Reception of Darwinism in 19th Century German Embryology. pp. 71-86 In Calne R, O'Reilly W. (Eds.) Scepticism: Hero and Villain. NOVA publishers.

Pointer MA, Kamilar JM, Warmuth V, Chester SGB, Delsuc F, Mundy NI, Asher RJ, Bradley BJ. 2012. RUNX2 tandem repeats and the evolution of facial length in placental mammals. BMC Evolutionary Biology 12:103.

Hautier L
, Sarr R, Tabuce R, Lihoreau F, Adnet S, Domning DP, Samb M, Marwan Hameh P. 2012. First prorastomid sirenian from Senegal (Western Africa) and the Old World origin of sea cows. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(5): 1218-1222.

Fabre P-H, Hautier L, Dimitrov D, Douzery EJP. 2012 A glimpse on the pattern of rodent diversification: a phylogenetic approach. BMC Evolutionary Biology 12:88.

Dos Reis M, Inoue J, Hasegawa M, Asher RJ, Donoghue PCJ, Yang Z. 2012. Phylogenomic datasets provide both precision and accuracy in estimating the timescale of placental mammal phylogeny. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279(1742):3491-3500.

Asher RJ. 2012. Evolution and Belief: Confessions of a Religious Paleontologist. Cambridge University Press.

Bärmann EV
, Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2012. A Phylogenetic Study of Late Growth Events in a Mammalian Evolutionary Radiation - The Cranial Sutures of Terrestrial Artiodactyl Mammals. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 19: 43-56.

Hautier L
, Stansfield FJ, Allen WR, Asher RJ. 2012. Skeletal development in the African elephant and ossification timing in placental mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279(1736):2188-2195. See also coverage on wired science.

Ciancio MR, Castro MC, Galliari FC, Carlini AA, Asher RJ. 2012. Evolutionary Implications of Dental Eruption in Dasypus (Xenarthra). Journal of Mammalian Evolution 19:1-8.

Weisbecker V, Hautier L, Asher RJ. 2012. Faultiere, Seekühe und die Siebener-Regel der Halswirbelsäule. Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau 65(1):38.

Asher RJ. 2012. Review of Darwin's Pious Idea by Conor Cunningham. Theology 115(1): 70-72.


2011

Bärmann EV, Rössner GE. 2011. Dental nomenclature in Ruminantia: towards a standard terminological framework. Mammalian Biology 76(6):762-768.

Asher RJ, Helgen KM. 2011. High level Mammalian taxonomy: a response to Hedges (2011). Zootaxa 3092: 63–64.

Hautier LJ, Weisbecker V, Goswami A, Knight F, Kardjilov N, Asher RJ. 2011. Skeletal ossification and sequence heterochrony in xenarthran evolution. Evolution & Development 13(5):460–476.

Billet G, Hautier L, Muizon C de, Valentin X. 2011. Oldest cingulate skulls provide congruence between morphological and molecular scenarii on armadillo’s evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278 : 2791-2797.

Marivaux L, Adaci M, Bensalah M, Gomes Rodrigues H, Hautier L, Mahboubi M, Mebrouk F, Tabuce R, Vianey-Liaud M. 2011. Zegdoumyidae (Rodentia, Mammalia), the stem anomaluroid rodents from the early to middle Eocene of Algeria (Gour Lazib, Western Sahara): new dental evidence. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 9: 563-588.

Hautier L, Lebrun R, Saksiri S, Michaux JJ, Vianey-Liaud M, Marivaux L. 2011. Hystricognathy vs sciurognathy in the rodent jaw: a new morphometric assessment of hystricognathy applied to living fossil Laonastes (Rodentia, Diatomyidae). PLoS ONE, 6(4): e18698.

Asher RJ, Lin KH, Kardjilov N, Hautier LJ. 2011. Variability and constraint in the mammalian vertebral column. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24(5): 1080-1090.


2010

Hautier LJ, Weisbecker V, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Goswami A, Asher RJ. 2010. Skeletal development in sloths and the evolution of mammalian vertebral patterning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107(44):18903-18908. See also coverage on the NY times, Science Daily, MSNBC, and Berliner Zeitung.

Asher RJ, Helgen KM. 2010. Nomenclature and placental mammal phylogeny. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:102.

Asher RJ, Maree S, Bronner G, Bennett NC, Bloomer P, Czechowski P, Meyer M, Hofreiter M. 2010. A phylogenetic estimate for golden moles (Mammalia, Afrotheria, Chrysochloridae). BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:69.

Asher RJ, Avery DM. 2010. New golden moles (Afrotheria, Chrysochloridae) from the Pliocene of South Africa. Paleontologica Electronica 13(1):3A.

Asher RJ, Seiffert ER. 2010. Systematics of Endemic African Mammals, in Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, Werdelin L and Sanders W (Eds.). University of California Press.

Asher RJ. 2010. Tenrecoidea, in Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, Werdelin L and Sanders W (Eds.). University of California Press.

Bover P, Alcover JA, Michaux JJ, Hautier L, Hutterer R. 2010. Body Shape and Life Style of the Extinct Balearic Dormouse Hypnomys (Rodentia, Gliridae): New Evidence from the Study of Associated Skeletons. PLoS ONE 5(12): e15817.

Hautier L. 2010. Masticatory muscle architecture in the gundi Ctenodactylus vali (Mammalia, Rodentia). Mammalia, 74: 153-152.

Hautier L, Clavel J, Lazzari V, Gomes Rodrigues H, Vianey-Liaud M. 2010. Changes in the direction of mastication during mammalian evolution, and relationships with the remodeling of the masticatory apparatus: the case of the Issiodoromyinae (Rodentia, Mammalia). Palaios, 25: 4-11.


2009

Wible JR , Rougier GW, Novacek MJ, Asher RJ.  2009.  The eutherian mammal Maelestes gobiensis from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and the phylogeny of Cretaceous Eutheria. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 327:1-123

Asher RJ, Bennett N, Lehmann T. 2009. The new framework for understanding placental mammal evolution. Bioessays 31(8): 853-864.

Asher RJ, Olbricht G. 2009. Dental ontogeny in Macroscelides proboscideus (Afrotheria) and Erinaceus europaeus (Lipotyphla). J Mamm Evol 16:99-115.

Benton MJ, Donoghue PCJ, Asher RJ. 2009. Calibrating and constraining molecular clocks. pp. 35-86 in Hedges SB and Kumar S. (Eds.) The Timetree of Life. Oxford University Press.


2008

Ladevèze S, Asher RJ, Sanchez-Villagra MR. 2008. Petrosal anatomy in the fossil mammal Necrolestes: evidence for metatherian affinities and comparisons with the extant marsupial mole. J Anatomy 213:686-697.

Asher RJ, Lehmann T. 2008. Dental eruption in afrotherian mammals. BMC Biology 6:14.

Asher RJ, Geisler J, Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2008. Morphology, paleontology, and placental mammal phylogeny. Systematic Biology 57(2):311–317.

Tabuce R, Asher RJ, Lehmann T. 2008. Afrotherian mammals: a review of current data. Mammalia 72: 2-14.


2007

Asher RJ. 2007. A database of morphological characters and a combined-data reanalysis of placental mammal phylogeny. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:108.

Wible JW, Rougier GW, Novacek MJ, Asher RJ. 2007. Cretaceous Eutherians and Laurasian Origin for Placental Mammals near K/T Boundary. Nature 447:1003-1006. See also coverage from a nature podcast and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette .

Sánchez-Villagra MR, Ladevèze S, Horovitz I, Argot C, Hooker JJ, Macrini TE, Martin T, Moore-Fay S, deMuizon C, Schmelzle T, Asher RJ. 2007. Exceptionally preserved North American Paleogene metatherians: adaptations and discovery of a major gap in the opossum fossil record. Biology Letters 3(3):318-322.

Turni H, Hutterer R, Asher RJ. 2007. Type specimens of  "insectivoran" mammals at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. Zootaxa 1470: 1-33.

Asher RJ, Horovitz I, Martin T, and Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2007. Neither a rodent nor a platypus: a reexamination of Necrolestes patagonensis Ameghino. American Museum Novitates 3546:1-40.


2006

Masters JC, de Wit MJ, and Asher RJ. 2006. Reconciling the Births of Africa, India and Madagascar with Vertebrate Dispersal Scenarios. Folia Primatologica 77:399-418.

Asher RJ, Hofreiter M. 2006. Tenrecid phylogeny and the noninvasive extraction of nuclear DNA. Systematic Biology (cover article) 55(2):181-194.


2005

Asher RJ, Emry RJ, McKenna MC. 2005. New material of Centetodon (Mammalia, Lipotyphla) and the importance of (missing) DNA sequences in systematic paleontology. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(4):911–923.

Asher RJ, Meng J, Wible JR, McKenna MC, Rougier GW, Dashzeveg D, Novacek MJ. 2005. Stem Lagomorpha and the Antiquity of Glires. Science 307 (5712): 1091-1094. See also coverage from the BBC, NY Times, Berliner Zeitung and Geo Magazin,

Asher RJ, Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2005. Locking yourself out: zalambdodonty as a key adaptation. In Polly D and Luo Z-X (Eds.) Festschrift in honor of Dr. W. Clemens, Journal of Mammalian Evolution 12 (1/2): 265-282.

Asher RJ. 2005. Insectivoran grade placental mammals: character evolution and fossil history. pp. 50-70 in Rose KD and Archibald D (Eds.) The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origin and Relationships of the Major Clades, Johns Hopkins University Press.



2004

Asher RJ, Horovitz I, Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2004. First Combined Cladistic Analysis of Marsupial Mammal Interrelationships. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 240-250.

Sánchez-Villagra MR, Asher RJ, Rincón AD, Carlini AA, Meylan P, Purdy R. 2004. Description of a novel vertebrate assemblage from the Cerro la Cruz locality (lower Miocene), northwestern Venezuela. In Sánchez-Villagra MR and Clack JA (eds). Fossils of the Castillo Formation, Venezuela: Contributions in Neotropical Palaeontology. Special Papers in Palaeontology 71:105-112.


2003

Asher RJ, Novacek MJ, Geisler JG. 2003. Relationships of Endemic African Mammals and their Fossil Relatives based on Morphological and Molecular Evidence. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 10: 131-194.

Asher RJ. 2003. Tenrecid phylogeny: a response to Douady et al. (2002). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26: 328-330.



2002

Asher RJ, McKenna MC, Emry RJ, Tabrum AR, Kron DG. 2002. Morphology and Relationships of Apternodus and Other Extinct, Zalambdodont, Placental Mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 243: 117 pp.

Sánchez-Villagra MR, Asher RJ. 2002. Cranio-sensory adaptations in small, faunivorous mammals, with special reference to olfaction and the trigeminal system. Mammalia 66(1): 93-109.


2001

Asher RJ. 2001. Cranial anatomy in tenrecid insectivorans: character evolution across competing phylogenies. American Museum Novitates 3352: 54 pp.

Whidden HP, Asher RJ. 2001. Origin of the Greater Antillean insectivorans. pp. 237-252 in Woods CA, Sergile FE (eds). West Indian Biogeography. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.


2000

Asher RJ. 2000. Phylogenetic History of Tenrecs and Other Insectivoran Mammals. Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York, Stony Brook. Advised by Drs. Callum Ross, Ross MacPhee, David Krause, Malcolm McKenna, and Marc Allard.



1999

Asher RJ. 1999. A morphological basis for assessing the phylogeny of the "Tenrecoidea" (Mammalia, Lipotyphla). Cladistics 15(3): 231-252.



1998

Asher RJ, Krause DW. 1998. The first pre-Holocene record of Anura from Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(4): 696-699.

Asher RJ. 1998. Morphological diversity of anatomical strepsirrhinism and the evolution of the lemuriform toothcomb. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 105: 355-367.