Nancy B. Simmons
Chair, Division of Vertebrate Zoology
Curator-in-Charge, Department of Mammalogy
PhD, University of California, Berkeley, California (1989)
212-769-5483
simmons@amnh.org

View CV
View List of Publications
Visit Nancy's FTP site (anonymous log in)
Visit the Mammalogy FTP site (anonymous log in)
Donating bat samples for genomic and stable isotope studies (including information on wind power and bats)
See Nancy in the New York Times video, "The Science of Bats: Studying a Misunderstood Creature"
Visit the Mammal Tree of Life project

Adjunct Positions
  • Professor,
    Richard Gilder Graduate School,
    American Museum Natural History
  • Adjunct Researcher,
    Doctoral Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
    Columbia University
  • Adjunct Faculty Member,
    Doctoral Program in Biology,
    The City University of New York
Research Interests
  • Higher-level relationships of bats.
  • Phylogeny and evolution of dietary diversity in megachiropteran bats (Familiy Pteropodidae) and New World leaf-nosed bats (Family Phyllostomidae).
  • Revisionary systematics of selected Neotropical bat taxa.
  • Patterns of geographic diversity in Neotropical bats and evaluation of inventory methods.
  • Evolution of echolocation calls and foraging strategies in bats.
  • Eocene fossil bats and early evolution of the chiropteran lineage.
Selected Publications
submitted Giannini, N. P, F. C. Almeida, and N. B. Simmons. Submitted. Phylogenetic relationships of harpyionycterine megabats. American Museum Novitates.
accepted Giannini, N. P., F. C. Almeida, N. B. Simmons, and K. Helgen. Accepted. The systematic position of Pteropus leucopterus and its bearing on the monophyly and relationships of Pteropus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). Acta Chiropteralogica.
in press Simmons, N.B. and R.S. Voss. In press. Collection, preparation, and fixation of specimens and tissues. In: Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats, 2nd Edition (T. H. Kunz and S. Parsons, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press.
2008 Simmons, N.B., K.L. Seymour, J. Habersetzer, and G.R. Gunnell. In press. Primitive Early Eocene bats from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation. Nature 451:818-823.
2007 Giannini, N. P., and N. B. Simmons. 2007 The chiropteran premaxilla: a reanalysis of morphological variation and its phylogenetic interpretation. American Museum Novitates 3585: 1-44.
2007 Giannini, N.P., and N.B. Simmons. 2007. Element homology and the evolution of dental formulae in megachiropteran bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). American Museum Novitates 3559:1-22.
2006 Giannini, N.P., F.C. Almeida, N.B. Simmons, and R. DeSalle. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic Harpy Fruit Bat, Harpyionycteris (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). American Museum Novitates 3533: 1-12.
2006 Giannini, N.P., J.R. Wible, and N.B. Simmons. 2006. On the cranial Osteology of Chiroptera. I. Pteropus (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 295: 1-134.
2006 Schutt, W.A. and N.B. Simmons. 2006. Quadrupedal bats: form, function and phylogeny. Pp. 15-159 in: Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of Bats. (A. Zubaid, G. McCracken, and T. Kunz, Eds.). Oxford University Press.
2005 Simmons, N. B. 2005. Order Chiroptera. Pp. 312-529 in: Mammal species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference, Third Edition, Volume 1 (D.E. Wilson and D.M Reeder, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press.
2005 Gunnell, G.F. and N.B. Simmons. 2005. Fossil evidence and the origin of bats. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 12: 209-246.
2005 Giannini, N.P. and N.B. Simmons. 2005. Conflict and congruence in a combined DNA-morphology analysis of megachiropteran bat relationships (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). Cladistics 21: 411-437.
2005 Simmons, N.B. 2005. Chiroptera. Pp 159-174 in Origins of the major clades of placental mammals (K. Rose and D. Archibald, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press.
2005 Simmons, N.B. 2005. An Eocene big bang for bats. Science 307:527-528.
2004 Lim, B.L., M.D. Engstrom, N.B. Simmons, and J.M. Dunlop. 2004. Phylogenetics and biogeography of least sac-winged bats (Balantiopteryx) based on morphological and molecular data.
2003 Giannini, N.P. and N.B. Simmons. 2003. A phylogeny of megachiropteran bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) based on direct optimization analysis of one nuclear and four mitochondrial genes. Cladistics 19: 496-511.
2003 Simmons N.B. and T. Conway. 2003. Evolution of ecological diversity in bats. In Bat Ecology (T. Kunz and M. B. Fenton, eds.), University of Chicago Press.
2002 Simmons, N.B. and J.H. Geisler. 2002. Sensitivity analysis of different mthods of coding taxonomic polymorphism: an example from higher-level bat phylogeny. Cladistics 18: 571-584.
2002 Fleck, D.W., R.S. Voss, and N.B. Simmons. 2002. Underdifferentiated taxa and sublexical categorization: an example from Matses classification of bats. Journal of Ethnobiology 22(1): 61-102.
2002 Simmons N. B. and A. L. Wetterer. 2002. Phylogeny and convergence in cactophilic bats. Pp. 87-121 in: Evolution, ecology, and conservation of columnar cacti and their mutualists (T. Flemming and A. Valiente-Banuet, eds.), University of Arizona Press.
2002 Simmons, N.B., R.S. Voss, and D.W. Fleck. 2002. A new Amazonian species of Micronycteris (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) with notes on the roosting behavior of sympatric congeners. American Museum Novitates 3358:1-14.
2002 Jones, K.E., A. Purvis, A. MacLarnon, O.R.P. Bilinda-Emonds, and N.B. Simmons. 2002. A phylogeny supertree of the bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera). Biological Reviews 77: 223-259.
2002 Van Den Bussche, R.A., S.R. Hoofer, and N.B. Simmons. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships of mormoopid bats using mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology. Journal of Mammalogy 83: 40-48.