Robert C. Thomson

Professor, School of Life Sciences at University of Hawaiʻi

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.

news

Jan 15, 2026 Systematic Biology Volume 75 Issue 1 is now out. Please see our special collection of 75th anniversary articles that will be appearing throughout the year.
Jan 01, 2026 My three year term as Editor in Chief at Systematic Biology has started. This follows a first year of handling the journal’s new submissions as Editor Elect.
May 09, 2025 Upcoming SSB symposium at the Evolution 2025 conference Machine learning and new inference algorithms: expanding what is possible in evolutionary biology and phylogenetic analysis, with an associated virtual issue of Systematic Biology.
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

selected publications

  1. 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
  2. On the Need for New Measures of Phylogenomic Support
    Robert C. Thomson, and Jeremy M. Brown
    Systematic Biology, 2022
  3. 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
  4. 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