Robert C. Thomson

I am a scientist working on Systematic Biology and Evolution in Honolulu. My research focuses on understanding phylogenetic history and biodiversity using computational and genomic tools. Much of this work focuses on amphibians and reptiles, as well as applied conservation biology questions.

Professor, School of Life Sciences
Editor-In-Chief Elect, Systematic Biology
Chair, Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Graduate Program
Research Associate in Herpetology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

news

Jan 09, 2025	Recent PhD graduate Val Alvarez started a new job with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Jan 01, 2025	I started my term as Editor-in-Chief Elect for Systematic Biology
Nov 04, 2024	Jeremy Brown (LSU) and I began offering the third installment of our Introduction to Phylogenomics workshop.

selected publications

A global phylogeny of turtles reveals a burst of climate-associated diversification on continental margins

Robert C Thomson, Phillip Q Spinks, and H Bradley Shaffer

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021

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On the Need for New Measures of Phylogenomic Support

Robert C. Thomson, and Jeremy M. Brown

Systematic Biology, 2022

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The evolutionary network of whiptail lizards reveals predictable outcomes of hybridization

Anthony J Barley, Adrián Oca, Norma L Manrı́quez-Morán, and Robert C Thomson

Science, 2022

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A Historical Resurvey of Flatland Lizards in the Mojave Desert

Amber N Wright, Anthony J Barley, Gregory B Pauly, Levi N Gray, and Robert C Thomson

Journal of Herpetology, 2024

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