Robert S. Voss

Curator, Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate Zoology

Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School

Email:
vossSPAMFILTER@amnh.org
Phone:
212-769-5482

Education

  • University of Michigan, Ph.D., 1983
  • University of Arizona , B.S., 1976

Research Interests

Dr. Voss’s primary research interests are the evolution of marsupials and the systematics and biogeography of other Neotropical mammals that inhabit moist-forest habitats in Amazonia and the Andes. He is actively involved in long-term revisionary studies on several groups that have radiated extensively in lowland and montane rainforests, including didelphid marsupials, caviomorph rodents (erethizontids and dasyproctids), and murid rodents. For several of these groups, he is also collaborating with molecular researchers on phylogenetic studies designed to provide a stable basis for higher-level classifications, historical biogeography, and comparative analyses of ecobehavioral adaptations. The collection and analysis of faunal inventory data, especially from long-term projects in tropical rainforest habitats, is another research focus.

Publications

Voss, R.S., J.F. Díaz-Nieto, and S.A. Jansa. 2018. A revision of Philander (Marsupialia: Didelphidae), part 1: P. quica, P. canus, and a new species from Amazonia. American Museum Novitates 3891: 1–70.

Voss, R.S., and D.W. Fleck. 2017. Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Sirenia. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 417: 1–118.

Voss, R.S., D.W. Fleck, R.E. Strauss, P.M. Velazco, and N.B. Simmons. 2016. Roosting ecology of Amazonian bats: evidence for guild structure in hyperdiverse mammalian communities. American Museum Novitates 3870: 1–43.

Pavan, S.E., and R.S. Voss. 2016. A revised subgeneric classification of short-tailed opossums (Didelphidae: Monodelphis). American Museum Novitates 3868: 1–44.

Díaz-Nieto, J.F., and R.S. Voss. 2016. A revision of the didelphid marsupial genus Marmosops. Part 1. Species of the subgenus Sciophanes. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 402: 1–70.

Pavan, S.E., S.A. Jansa, and R.S. Voss. 2016. Spatiotemporal diversification of a low-vagility Neotropical vertebrate clade (short-tailed opossums, Didelphidae: Monodelphis). Journal of Biogeography 43: 1299–1309.

Díaz-Nieto, J.F., S.A. Jansa, and R.S. Voss. 2016. Phylogenetic relationships of Chacodelphys (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) based on “ancient” DNA sequences. Journal of Mammalogy 97: 394–404.

Díaz-Nieto, J.F., S.A. Jansa, and R.S. Voss. 2016. DNA sequencing reveals unexpected Recent diversity and an ancient dichotomy in the American marsupial genus Marmosops (Didelphidae: Thylamyini). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176: 914–940.

Teaching Experience

Faculty Appointments

  • Adjunct Senior Research Faculty, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University, 1999
  • Adjunct Faculty, Ph.D. Program in Biology, CUNY, 1994

Courses Taught

Graduate Advisees

  • Valeria Taveres, CUNY
  • Adrian Tejedor, CUNY
  • Marcelo Weksler, CUNY
  • Victor Pacheco, CUNY 

Graduate Committees

  • Marcelo Weksler, CUNY (chair)
  • Valeria Taveres, CUNY
  • Adrian Tejedor, CUNY
  • Henry Bernard, CUNY
  • Patricia Escalante, CUNY