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Vertebrate Museum

My research interest most frequently incorporates museum specimens to study of phylogeny, taxonomy, evolution and biogeography. I am most interested in diverse lineages of mammals, particularly adaptive radiations and have done biological surveys in Southeast Asia, Madagascar and the United States. I use cutting edge molecular techniques to generate large datasets from degraded DNA sources (over 100 year old museum specimens). I am also proficient in bioinformatics, and a novice with GIS.

Website

Melissa Hawkins

Affiliate Researchers

Curator of Mammals

Publications & Presentations

Journal Article

Kays, Roland, Snider, Matthew H., Hess, George, Cove, Michael V., Jensen, Alex, Shamon, Hila, McShea, William J., Rooney, Brigit, Allen, Maximilian L., Pekins, Charles E., Wilmers, Christopher C., Pendergast, Mary E., Green, Austin M., Suraci, Justin, Leslie, Matthew S., Nasrallah, Sophie, Farkas, Dan, Jordan, Mark, Grigione, Melissa, LaScaleia, Michael C., Davis, Miranda L., Hansen, Chris, Millspaugh, Josh, Lewis, Jesse S., Havrda, Michael et al. 2024. "Climate, food and humans predict communities of mammals in the United States." Diversity and Distributions, https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13900.
Castañeda-Rico, Susette, Edwards, Cody W., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2023. "An 1896 specimen helps clarify the phylogenetic placement of the Mexican endemic Hooper’s deer mouse." Therya, 14, (1) 181–195. https://doi.org/10.12933/therya-23-2243.
Castañeda-Rico, Susette, Parker, Lillian D., Sánchez, Evelyn, Rivas-Trasvina, Sheccid, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Edwards, Cody W., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2023. "Novel genomic resources contribute to the systematics of threatened arboreal deer mice of the genus Habromys Hooper & Musser, 1964 (Cricetidae, Neotominae) within a neotomine–peromyscine phylogeny." ZooKeys, 1179, (1) 157–168. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1179.108759.
Hinckley, Arlo, Camacho-Sanchez, Miguel, Chua, Marcus A. H., Ruedi, Manuel, Lunde, Darrin, Maldonado, Jesús E., Omar, Hasmahzaiti, Leonard, Jennifer A., and Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2023. "An integrative taxonomic revision of lesser gymnures (Eulipotyphla: Hylomys) reveals five new species and emerging patterns of local endemism in Tropical East Asia." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad177.
Hinckley, Arlo, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Maldonado, Jesús E., and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2023. "Evolutionary history and patterns of divergence in three tropical east Asian squirrels across the Isthmus of Kra." Journal of Biogeography, 50, (6) 1090–1102. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14598.
Lin, Audrey T., Hammond-Kaarremaa, Liz, Liu, Hsiao-Lei, Stantis, Chris, McKechnie, Iain, Pavel, Michael, Pavel, Susan sa'hLa mitSa, Wyss, Senaqwila Sen̓áḵw, Sparrow, Debra qwasen, Carr, Karen, Aninta, Sabhrina Gita, Perri, Angela, Hartt, Jonathan, Bergström, Anders, Carmagnini, Alberto, Charlton, Sophy, Dalén, Love, Feuerborn, Tatiana R., France, Christine A. M., Gopalakrishnan, Shyam, Grimes, Vaughan, Harris, Alex, Kavich, Gwénaëlle M., Sacks, Benjamin N., Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S. et al. 2023. "The history of Coast Salish “woolly dogs” revealed by ancient genomics and Indigenous Knowledge." Science, 382, (6676) 1303–1308. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi6549.
Castañeda-Rico, Susette, Edwards, Cody W., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2022. "Museomics and the holotype of a critically endangered cricetid rodent provide key evidence of an undescribed genus." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.930356.
Speer, Kelly A., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Flores, Mary Faith C., McGowen, Michael R., Fleischer, Robert C., Maldonado, Jesús E., Campana, Michael G., and Muletz-Wolz, Carly. 2022. "A comparative study of RNA yields from museum specimens, including an optimized protocol for extracting RNA from formalin-fixed specimens." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.953131.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Bailey, Carolyn A., Brown, Allyshia M., Tinsman, Jen, Hagenson, Ryan A., Culligan, Ryan R., Barela, Adena G., Randriamanana, Jean C., Ranaivoarisoa, Jean F., Zaonarivelo, John R., and Louis, Edward E. 2022. "Nuclear and Mitochondrial Phylogenomics of the Sifakas Reveal Cryptic Variation in the Diademed Sifaka." Genes, 13, (6) 1026. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13061026.
Hinckley, Arlo, Sanchez-Donoso, Ines, Comas, Mar, Camacho-Sanchez, Miguel, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Hasan, Noor Haliza, and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2022. "Challenging ecogeographical rules: Phenotypic variation in the Mountain Treeshrew (Tupaia montana) along tropical elevational gradients." PLOS ONE, 17, (6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268213.
Yuan, Stella C., Malekos, Eric, Cuellar-Gempeler, Catalina, and Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. "Population genetic analysis of the Humboldt's flying squirrel using high-throughput sequencing." Journal of mammalogy, 103, (2) 287–302. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac002.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Flores, Mary Faith C., McGowen, Michael, and Hinckley, Arlo. 2022. "A comparative analysis of extraction protocol performance on degraded mammalian museum specimens." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.984056.
Kays, Roland, Lasky, Monica, Allen, Maximilian L., Dowler, Robert C., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Hope, Andrew G., Kohli, Brooks A., Mathis, Verity L., McLean, Bryan, Olson, Link E., Thompson, Cody W., Thornton, Daniel, Widness, Jane, and Cove, Michael, V. 2022. "Which mammals can be identified from camera traps and crowdsourced photographs?" Journal of mammalogy, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac021.
Castañeda-Rico, Susette, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Maldonado, Jesús E., and Edwards, Cody W. 2022. "Museomics and the holotype of a critically endangered cricetid rodent provide key evidence of an undescribed genus." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.930356.
Marsh, Charles J., Sica, Yanina V., Burgin, Connor J., Dorman, Wendy A., Anderson, Robert C., del Toro Mijares, Isabel, Vigneron, Jessica G., Barve, Vijay, Dombrowik, Victoria L., Duong, Michelle, Guralnick, Robert, Hart, Julie A., Maypole, J. Krish, McCall, Kira, Ranipeta, Ajay, Schuerkmann, Anna, Torselli, Michael A., Lacher, Thomas, Jr., Mittermeier, Russell A., Rylands, Anthony B., Sechrest, Wes, Wilson, Don E., Abba, Agustin M., Aguirre, Luis F., Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin et al. 2022. "Expert range maps of global mammal distributions harmonised to three taxonomic authorities." Journal of Biogeography, 49, (5) 979–992. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14330.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Caballero, Susana, and Campana, Michael G. 2021. "Assessing Biodiversity in the Phylogenomic Era." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.803188.
Hinckley, Arlo, Camacho-Sanchez, Miguel, Ruedi, Manuel, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Mullon, Madeleine, Cornellas, Anna, Tuh Yit Yuh, Fred, and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2021. "Evolutionary history of Sundaland shrews (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae: Crocidura ) with a focus on Borneo." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab045.
Yuan, Stella C., Malekos, Eric, and Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2021. "Assessing genotyping errors in mammalian museum study skins using high throughput genotyping by sequencing." Conservation Genetics Resources, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-021-01213-8.
Jara-Espejo, Manuel, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Fogalli, Giovani Bressan, and Line, Sergio Roberto Peres. 2021. "Folding Stability of Pax9 Intronic G-quadruplex Correlates with Relative Molar Size in Eutherians." Molecular biology and evolution, 38, (5) 1860–1873. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa331.
Cove, Michael V., Kays, Roland, Bontrager, Helen, Bresnan, Claire, Lasky, Monica, Frerichs, Taylor, Klann, Renee, Lee, Thomas E., Crockett, Seth C., Crupi, Anthony P., Weiss, Katherine C. B., Rowe, Helen, Sprague, Tiffany, Schipper, Jan, Tellez, Chelsey, Lepczyk, Christopher A., Fantle‐Lepczyk, Jean E., LaPoint, Scott, Williamson, Jacque, Fisher‐Reid, M. Caitlin, King, Sean M., Bebko, Alexandra J., Chrysafis, Petros, Jensen, Alex J., Jachowski, David S. et al. 2021. "SNAPSHOT USA 2019: a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States." Ecology, 102, (6). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3353.
Hinckley, Arlo, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Achmadi, Anang S., Maldonado, Jesús E., and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2020. "Ancient Divergence Driven by Geographic Isolation and Ecological Adaptation in Forest Dependent Sundaland Tree Squirrels." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8 208. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00208.
Parker, Lillian D., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Camacho-Sanchez, Miguel, Campana, Michael G., West-Roberts, Jacob, Wilbert, Tammy R., Lim, Haw Chuan, Rockwood, Larry L., Leonard, Jennifer A., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2020. "Little genetic structure in a Bornean endemic small mammal across a steep ecological gradient." Molecular ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15626.
Camacho-Sanchez, Miguel, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Tuh, Yit Yu, Maldonado, Jesús E., and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2019. "Endemism and diversity of small mammals along two neighboring Bornean mountains." PeerJ, 7 31608182. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7858.
Camacho-Sanchez, Miguel, Quintanilla, Irene, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Tuh, Fred Y. Y., Wells, Konstans, Maldonado, Jesús E., and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2018. "Interglacial refugia on tropical mountains: Novel insights from the summit rat (Rattus baluensis), a Borneo mountain endemic." Diversity and Distributions, 24, (9) 1252–1266. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12761.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Culligan, Ryan R., Frasier, Cynthia L., Dikow, Rebecca B., Hagenson, Ryan, Lei, Runhua, and Louis, Edward E., Jr. 2018. "Genome sequence and population declines in the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) and implications for conservation." Bmc Genomics, 19 445–445. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-4841-4.
Gutierrez, Eliecer E., Helgen, Kristofer M., McDonough, Molly M., Bauer, Franziska, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Escobedo-Morales, Luis A., Patterson, Bruce D., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2017. "A gene-tree test of the traditional taxonomy of American deer: the importance of voucher specimens, geographic data, and dense sampling." Zookeys, (697) 87–131. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.697.15124.
Campana, Michael G., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Henson, Lauren H., Stewardson, Kristin, Young, Hillary S., Card, Leah R., Lock, Justin, Agwanda, Bernard, Brinkerhoff, Jory, Gaff, Holly D., Helgen, Kristofer M., Maldonado, Jesús E., McShea, William J., and Fleischer, Robert C. 2016. "Simultaneous identification of host, ectoparasite and pathogen DNA via in-solution capture." Molecular Ecology Resources, 16, (5) 1224–1239. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12524.
Campana, Michael G., Parker, Lillian D., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Young, Hillary S., Helgen, Kristofer M., Szykman Gunther, Micaela, Woodroffe, Rosie, Maldonado, Jesús E., and Fleischer, Robert C. 2016. "Genome sequence, population history, and pelage genetics of the endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)." BMC Genomics, 17, (1) 1013. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-016-3368-9.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Helgen, Kristofer M., Maldonado, Jesús E., Rockwood, Larry L., Tsuchiya, Mirian T. N., and Leonard, Jennifer A. 2016. "Phylogeny, biogeography and systematic revision of plain long-nosed squirrels (genus Dremomys, Nannosciurinae)." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 94, (Part B) 752–764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.023.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Hofman, Courtney A., Callicrate, Taylor, McDonough, Molly M., Tsuchiya, Mirian T. N., Gutiérrez, Eliécer E., Helgen, Kristofer M., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2016. "In-Solution Hybridization for Mammalian Mitogenome enrichment: Pros, Cons, and Challenges Associated with Multiplexing Degraded DNA." Molecular Ecology Resources, 16, (5) 1173–1188. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12448.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Leonard, Jennifer A., Helgen, Kristofer M., McDonough, Molly M., Rockwood, Larry L., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2016. "Evolutionary history of endemic Sulawesi squirrels constructed from UCEs and mitogenomes sequenced from museum specimens." BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16, (1) 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0650-z.
Gutiérrez, Eliécer E., Maldonado, Jesús E., Radosavljevic, Aleksandar, Molinari, Jesús, Patterson, Bruce D., Martínez-C, Juan M., Rutter, Amy R., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Garcia, Franger J., and Helgen, Kristofer M. 2015. "The Taxonomic Status of Mazama bricenii and the Significance of the Táchira Depression for Mammalian Endemism in the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela." PloS One, 10, (6) 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129113.
Hofman, Courtney A., Rick, Torben C., Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Funk, W. C., Ralls, Katherine, Boser, Christina L., Collins, Paul W., Coonan, Tim, King, Julie L., Morrison, Scott A., Newsome, Seth D., Sillett, T. Scott, Fleischer, Robert C., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2015. "Mitochondrial Genomes Suggest Rapid Evolution of Dwarf California Channel Islands Foxes (Urocyon littoralis)." PloS One, 10, (2) 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118240.
Kimura, Yuri, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., McDonough, Molly M., Jacobs, Louis L., and Flynn, Lawrence J. 2015. "Corrected placement of Mus-Rattus fossil calibration forces precision in the molecular tree of rodents." Scientific Reports, 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14444.
Leonard, Jennifer A., den Tex, Robert-Jan, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Muñoz-Fuentes, Violeta, Thorington, Richard W., Jr., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2015. "Phylogeography of vertebrates on the Sunda Shelf: a multi-species comparison." Journal of Biogeography, 42, (5) 871–879. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12465.

Dataset

Castañeda-Rico, Susette, Parker, Lillian D., Sánchez, Evelyn, Rivas-Trasvina, Sheccid, Hawkins, Melissa T. R., Edwards, Cody W., and Maldonado, Jesús E. 2023. [Dataset] Dataset: Novel genomic resources contribute to the systematics of threatened arboreal deer mice of the genus Habromys Hooper & Musser, 1964 (Cricetidae, Neotominae) within a neotomine–peromyscine phylogeny. Distributed by Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.23563929.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] DIAMOND Blast Data. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.20161505.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] IQ-TREE. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19073930.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] Bayesian Skyline Plot. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19329308.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] UPGMA 95% Individuals Tree. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19369310.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] Mitogenomes. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19369334.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] UCE loci. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19089860.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] UCE Concatenated Alignments. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19089845.V1.
Hawkins, Melissa T. R. 2022. [Dataset] 10KTrees- Primates. Distributed by National Museum of Natural History. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.19089989.V1.

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