Professor Miguel Vences (born 24 April 1969 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

) is a German

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

and evolutionary biologist. Much of his research is focused on the reptiles and

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Life

The son of Galician philosopher Sergio Vences Fernández (1936–2012), Vences attended the Schiller-Gymnasium Köln from 1979 to 1988, and graduated with the German Abitur. The following year he began to study Biology at the University of Cologne. There he met Frank Glaw, and as undergraduate students they undertook their first excursions to

. 496 pp. After completing the Vordiplom in 1993, Vences transferred to the University of Bonn and the Museum König, where he completed his Diplom studies. Vences continued his studies there as a PhD student under the supervision of

Wolfgang Böhme Wolfgang Böhme (born 17 December 1949) is an East Germany, East German former Team handball, handball player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was born in Wolfen, Germany, Wolfen. He was the husband of Ute Rührold, but they are now d ...

until 2000. His thesis was on the evolutionary history of

true frog True frogs is the common name for the frog family (biology), family Ranidae. They have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. The true frogs are p ...

s ( Ranoidea) and related families in Madagascar. Thereafter, he worked for one year at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

of France in Paris, before returning to Germany in 2001 to work at the University of Konstanz. In 2002 he worked at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

and the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam as assistant professor and Leader of the

Vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

section. In 2005 he moved to the Braunschweig University of Technology as a professor of

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

, where he works to this day. In 2013 he was elected into the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and in 2018 to the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (the German National Academy of Sciences).

Scientific work

The focus of Vences' work is on the

and reptiles of Madagascar. He works together with Frank Glaw on many taxonomic

species description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it diff ...

s; together they have described over 200 new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of frogs, and numerous new species of

snakes Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...

, chameleons, and other reptiles. In 1992, they produced a field guide to the reptiles and amphibians of Madagascar. In 1994 they produced a second edition of this guide, including the descriptions of numerous new

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

, and a significantly expanded reptile section. In 2007, a third edition was produced, which did not describe any new species, but included colour photographs and short text descriptions of over 100 unnamed species. In recent years, Vences has been coauthor on several publications over a wide range of subjects, including but not limited to biogeography, amphibian disease and amphibian-associated microbiomes,

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as Adaptation (biology), adaptation, s ...

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and speciation, and

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

Eponyms

Four species have been named after Vences: *'' Calumma vencesi'' – Vences' chameleonBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Vences", p. 274). *'' Eimeria vencesi'' *'' Rhabdias vencesi'' *'' Hydrothelphusa vencesi''

References

External links

Miguel Vences' homepageEvolutionary Biology department of the Zoological Institute of the Braunschweig University of Technology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vences, Miguel German herpetologists German people of Spanish descent Herpetologists 1969 births Living people Scientists from Cologne University of Cologne alumni University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of the University of Konstanz Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Academic staff of TU Braunschweig Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina