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Phylogenetics

We are particularly interested in the phylogenetic relationships of Afrotherians and members of the herpetofauna of mainland Africa and Madagascar. However, we also study other taxonomic groups, often as collaborative projects with other researchers. Thanks to such collaborations, we have recently worked, among others, on such divergent groups as mastodons, sharks, spitting cobras and deep-sea polychaetes.

Recent selected publications:

  1. Wagner, I., Smolina, I., Koop, M.E.L., Bal, T., Lizano, A.M., Qin Choo, L., Hofreiter, M., Gennari, E., de Sabata, E., Shivji, M.S., Noble, L.R., Jones, C.S. and Hoarau, G. (2024) Genome analysis reveals three distinct lineages of the cosmopolitan white shark. Current Biology, 34 (15), 3582-3590.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.076. Epub 23rd July 2024.
  2. Yuan, J., Hu, J., Liu, W., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Wang, S., Zhang, Z., Wang, L., Xiao, B., Li, F., Hofreiter, M., Lai, X., Westbury, M.V. and Sheng, G. (2024) Camelus knoblochi genome reveals the complex evolutionary history of Old World camels. Current Biology, 34 (11), 2502-2508.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.050. Epub 15th May 2024.
  3. Hagemann, J., Hofreiter, M., Bibi, F., Holroyd, P. and Arnold, P. (2023) Is it inappropriate to ask for your age? Evaluating parameter impact on tree dating in a challenging clade (Macroscelidea). Mol Phylogenet Evol., 183, 107756. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107756. Epub 9th March 2023.
  4. Scherz, M.D., Crottini, A., Hutter, C.R., Hildebrand, A., Andreone, F., Fulgence, T.R., Köhler, G., Ndriantsoa, S.H., Ohler, A., Preick, M., Rakotoarison, A., Rancilhac, L., Raselimanana, A.P., Riemann, J.C., Rödel, M.O., Rosa, G.M., Streicher, J.W., Vieites, D.R., Köhler, .J, Hofreiter, M., Glaw, F. and Vences, M. (2022) An inordinate fondness for inconspicuous brown frogs: integration of phylogenomics, archival DNA analysis, morphology, and bioacoustics yields 24 new taxa in the subgenus Brygoomantis (genus Mantidactylus) from Madagascar. Megataxa, 7 (2), 113-311, doi: 10.11646/megataxa.7.2.1. Epub: 15th December 2022
  5. Baleka, S., Varela, L., Tambusso, P.S., Paijmans, J.L.A., Mothé, D., Stafford, T.W. Jr, Fariña, R.A. and Hofreiter, M. (2021) Revisiting proboscidean phylogeny and evolution through total evidence and palaeogenetic analyses including Notiomastodon ancient DNA.  iScience, 25 (1), 103559. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103559. Epub 21st January 2022.
  6. van der Valk, T., Pečnerová, P., Díez-Del-Molino, D., Bergström, A., Oppenheimer, J., Hartmann, S., Xenikoudakis, G., Thomas, J.A., Dehasque, M., Sağlıcan, E., Fidan, F.R., Barnes, I., Liu, S., Somel, M., Heintzman, P.D., Nikolskiy, P., Shapiro, B., Skoglund, P., Hofreiter, M., Lister, A.M., Götherström, A. and Dalén, L. (2021) Million-year-old DNA sheds light on the genomic history of mammoths. Nature, 591 (7849), 265-269. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9. Epub 17th February 2021.