Assistant Curator of Mammals
Negaunee Integrative Research Center
Anderson is a mammalogist with a multidisciplinary interest in species diversity and evolution, montane ecology, and species resilience to climate change. He uses museum collections to address diverse topics in systematics, ecology, evolution, and biogeography.
His earlier projects focused on the taxonomy and systematics of Neotropical mammals, ranging from rodents and bats to armadillos and cats. Over the years, Anderson’s research has expanded to investigate how some mammals thrive in high-elevation environments, study the geoclimatic effects on species diversification and extinction, and determine which ecotypes are more resilient to climate-driven extinctions. In addition, he integrates museum-based data with land use and socioeconomic metrics to delineate priority areas for conservation at both global and local scales.
Prior to joining the Field Museum, Anderson worked as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. His research there investigated the systematics and evolution of Asian rodents and pikas, genetic and morphological adaptations to deserts and high-altitude environments, and ecology and conservation of montane mammal communities.
Anderson’s fieldwork experience spans diverse biomes and mammalian groups, from collecting bats in the Amazon Forest to surveying pikas in the Tibetan Plateau. His research has unveiled hidden diversity in Neotropical and Asian faunas, bringing several new species to light. These include conspicuous taxa such as the Baturite porcupine, greater long-nosed armadillos, and pampas cats as well as more elusive animals such as the transparent-winged big-eared bat and the Tibetan white-bellied rat.
Education and Work
PhD Biological Sciences, Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil. 2017
MS Biological Sciences, Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil. 2012
BS Biological Sciences, Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil. 2010
Accomplishments
Publications
For a full list, see Anderson’s Google Scholar page.
Feijó A, Magalhães RA, Bocchiglieri A, Cordeiro JLP, Sena LMM, Attias N. 2023. Defining priority areas for conservation of poorly known species: a case study of the endemic Brazilian three-banded armadillo. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction. 1: e2.
Feijó A, Karlsson CM, Gray R, Yang Q, Hughes AC. 2023. Extreme-sized anurans are more prone to climate-driven extinctions. Climate Change Ecology. 4: 100062.
Peng X, Cheng J, Li H, Feijó A, Xia L, Ge D, Wen Z, Yang Q. 2023. Whole-genome sequencing reveals adaptations of hairy-footed jerboas (Dipus, Dipodidae) to diverse desert environments. BMC Biology. 21: 182.
Ge D, Wen Z, Feijó A, Lissovsky A, Zhang W, Cheng J, Yan C, She H, Zhang D, Cheng Y, Lu L, Wu X, Mu D, Zhang Y, Xia L, Qu Y, Vogler AP, Yang Q. 2023. Genomic consequences of and demographic response to pervasive hybridization over time in climate-sensitive pikas. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 40: msac274.
Feijó A, Ge D, Wen Z, Cheng J, Xia L, Patterson BD, Yang Q. 2022. Mammalian diversification bursts and biotic turnovers are synchronous with Cenozoic geoclimatic events in Asia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(49): e2207845119
Feijó A, Brandão MV. 2022. Taxonomy as the first step towards conservation: an appraisal on the taxonomy of medium- and large-sized Neotropical mammals in the 21st century. Zoologia. 39: e22007.
Feijó A, Ge D, Wen Z, Xia L, Yang Q. 2022. Identifying hotspots and priority areas for xenarthran research and conservation. Diversity and Distributions. 28: 2778-2790.
Wen Z, Feijó A, Ke J, He X, Cheng J, Ge D, Tian T, Xia L, Wu Y, Ran J, Yang Q. 2022. Altitudinal dispersal process drives community assembly of montane small mammals. Ecography. 9: e06318.
Feijó A, Anacleto TC. 2021. Taxonomic revision of the genus Cabassous McMurtrie, 1831 (Cingulata: Chlamyphoridae), with revalidation of Cabassous squamicaudis (Lund, 1845). Zootaxa. 4974(1): 47–78.
Ge D, Feijó A, Wen Z, Abramov AV, Lu L, Cheng J, Pan S, Ye S, Xia L, Jilang X, Vogler AP, Yang Q. 2021. Demographic history and genomic response to environmental changes in a rapid radiation of wild rats. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38(5): 1905–1923.
Nascimento FO, Cheng J, Feijó A. 2021. Taxonomic revision of the pampas cat Leopardus colocola complex (Carnivora, Felidae): an integrative approach. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 191(2): 575–611.
Feijó A, Ge D, Wen Z, Xia L, Yang, Q. 2020. Divergent adaptations in resource-use traits explain how pikas thrive on the roof of the world. Functional Ecology. 34(9): 1826–1838.
Feijó A, Patterson BD, Cordeiro-Estrela P. 2020. Phenotypic variability and environmental tolerance shed light on the nine-banded armadillo Nearctic invasion. Biological Invasions. 22: 255–269.
Feijó A, Wang Y, Sun J, Li F, Wen Z, Ge D, Xia L, Yang Q. 2019. Research trends on bats in China: a twenty-first century review. Mammalian Biology. 98: 163–172.
Feijó A, Vilela JF, Cheng J, Schetino MAA, Coimbra RTF, Bonvicino CR, Santos FR, Patterson BD, Cordeiro-Estrela P. 2019. Phylogeny and molecular species delimitation of long-nosed armadillos (Dasypus: Cingulata) supports morphology-based taxonomy. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186(3): 813–825.
Feijó A, Patterson BD, Cordeiro-Estrela P. 2018. Taxonomic revision of the long-nosed armadillos, Genus Dasypus (Mammalia, Cingulata). PlosOne. 13(4): e0195084.
Nascimento FO, Feijó A. 2017. Taxonomic revision of the tigrina Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775) (Carnivora, Felidae). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 57: 231–264.
Feijó A, Rocha PA, Althoff SL. 2015. New species of Histiotus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa. 4048: 412–427.