Matthew Jones
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Mail code: 4501Campus: Tempe
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Matthew Jones is a paleontologist interested in the evolution of mammals during the early Cenozoic Era (~66 to 34 million years ago). He conducts fieldwork in both North America and Asia—along with research on existing museum collections—to understand how placental mammals evolved and diversified shortly after the extinction of the (non-avian) dinosaurs.
Jones received his master's degree from the University of Kansas in 2016. There he studied the terrestrial locomotion of living bats in order to determine the morphological, ecological, and evolutionary drivers behind these behaviors. He received his PhD from the University of Kansas in 2022, studying the origins and early diversification of bats and their possible relationship to other early Cenozoic mammals.
PhD University of Kansas
I research the origins and diversification of mammals during the Paleocene and Eocene epochs (~66-34 million years ago). I primarily study small, insectivorous mammal fossils in order to understand the origins of various lineages of living mammals, with a special focus on the origin and early evolution of bats. My research includes both fieldwork and work in existing paleontological collections and incorporates both comparative anatomy and phylogenetic methods to address these questions.
14. Jones, M.F., Beard, K.C., and Simmons, N.B., 2024. Phylogeny and systematics of early Paleogene bats. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 31:18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09705-8
13. Simmons, N.B., and Jones, M.F., 2024. Foraging in the fossil record: Diet and behavior of the earliest bats. In A Natural History of Bat Foraging: Evolution, Physiology, Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation (D. Russo, and B. Fenton, eds.). Academic Press, London, UK, p. 7-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91820-6.00008-5
12. Jones, M.F., and Beard, K.C., 2023. Nyctitheriidae (Mammalia, ?Eulipotyphla) from the late Paleocene of Big Multi Quarry, southern Wyoming, and a revision of the subfamily Placentidentinae. Annals of Carnegie Museum 88:115-159. https://doi.org/10.2992/007.088.0202
11. Schauf, A.J., Jones, M.F., and Oh, P., 2023. Simulating the dynamics of dispersal and dispersal ability in fragmented populations with mate-finding Allee effects. Ecology and Evolution 13:e10021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10021
10. Rietbergen, T.B., van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., Aase, A., Jones, M.F., Medeiros, E.D., and Simmons, N.B., 2023. The oldest known bat skeletons and their implications for Eocene chiropteran diversification. PLOS One 18:e0283505. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283505
9. Jones, M.F., and Hasiotis, S.T., 2023. Terrestrial locomotor behaviors of the big brown bat (Vespertilionidae: Eptesicus fuscus). Mammal Research 68:253-262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-022-00669-9
8. Jones, M.F., Li, Q., Ni, X., and Beard, K.C., 2021. The earliest Asian bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) address major gaps in bat evolution. Biology Letters 17:20210185. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0185
7. Thomas, P.A., Jones, M.F., and Mattingly, S.G., 2021. Using Wikipedia to teach scholarly peer review: a creative approach to open pedagogy. Journal of Information Literacy 15:178-190. https://doi.org/10.11645/15.2.2913
6. Beard, K.C., Jones, M.F., Thurber, N.A., and Sanisidro, O., 2020. Systematics and paleobiology of Chiromyoides (Mammalia, Plesiadapidae) from the upper Paleocene of western North America and western Europe. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 39:e1730389-2. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2019.1730389
5. Jones, M.F., Coster, P.M.C., Licht, A., Métais, G., Ocakoğlu, F., Taylor, M.H., and Beard, K.C., 2019. A stem bat (Chiroptera: Palaeochiropterygidae) from the late middle Eocene of northern Anatolia: implications for the dispersal and paleobiology of early bats. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments 99:261-269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0338-z
4. Jones, M.F., and Hasiotis, S.T., 2018. Terrestrial behavior and trackway morphology of Neotropical bats. Acta Chiropterologica 20:229-250. https://doi.org/10.3161/15081109ACC2018.20.1.018
3. Jones, M.F., 2017. Greater Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes melambrotus), Birds of the World (T.S. Schulenberg, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gyhvul1.01
2. Jones, M.F., Dzenowski, N.D., and McLeod, D.S., 2017. A new state size record for the red-spotted toad (Anaxyrus punctatus): implications for a species in need of conservation in Kansas. Collinsorum 6:11-12.
1. York, H.A., Foster, P.F., Jones, M.F., Schwartz, W.H., Vezeau, A.L., and Zerwekh, M.S., 2008. Observations of cavity-roosting behavior in Costa Rican Lophostoma brasiliense. Mammalian Biology 73:230-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2007.02.008
Courses
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 370 | Vertebrate Zoology |
| BIO 370 | Vertebrate Zoology |
| BIO 370 | Vertebrate Zoology |
| BIO 370 | Vertebrate Zoology |
| BIO 370 | Vertebrate Zoology |