Publications
Publications highlighting recent research (last 5 years) on the focal areas of phylogenetics/omics, comparative methods, macroevolution, paleobiology, and echinoderms. Full list of publications can be found here. * = equally contributed, † = mentee.
Mongiardino Koch N, Thompson JR, Mooi R, Rouse GW. 2025. But the clock, tick-tock: An empirical case study highlights the preeminence of relaxed clock models in total-evidence dating. Systematic Biology, in press. 10.1093/sysbio/syaf055.
Spear JK, Hoffman EA, Miyamae JA, Arre A, Chen-Kraus C, Corley MK, et al. 2025. Deep-time history of primate behavior and ecology as revealed by ancestral state reconstructions. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 32: 21. 10.1007/s10914-025-09756-5.
Courville E, Mongiardino Koch N, Jossart Q, Moreau C, Mooi R, Lessios HA, et al. 2025. Phylogeny of Arbacia Gray, 1835 (Echinoidea) reveals diversification patterns in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Journal of Biogeography, 52: 722-734. 10.1111/jbi.15070.
Stefanini MI, Milla Carmona PS, Gómez-Bahamon V, Mongiardino Koch N, Soto IM, Gómez RO, et al. 2025. Craniofacial modularity and the evolution of cranial kinesis in the adaptive radiation of Furnariidae (Aves: Passeriformes). Evolution, 79: 625-640. 10.1093/evolut/qpaf013.
Seid CA, Hiley AS†, McCowin MF, Carvajal JI, Cha H, Ahyong ST, et al. 2025. A faunal inventory of methane seeps on the Pacific margin of Costa Rica. ZooKeys, 1222: 1-250. 10.3897/zookeys.1222.134385.
Hiley AS†, Mongiardino Koch N, Rouse GW. 2024. Phylogenetics of Lepidonotopodini (Macellicephalinae, Polynoidae) and comparative mitogenomics of shallow-water vs. deep-sea scaleworms (Aphroditiformia). Biology, 2024: 979. 10.3390/biology13120979.
Shen Z†, Mongiardino Koch N, Seid C, Tilic E, Rouse GW. 2024. Three new species of deep-sea wood-associated sea stars (Asteroidea: Caymanostellidae) from the Eastern Pacific. Zootaxa, 5536: 351-388. 10.11646/zootaxa.5536.3.1. Chosen as one of the top 10 new species of 2024 by WoRMS.
Lheritier M, Edgecombe GD, Garwood RJ, Buisson A, Gerbe A, Mongiardino Koch N, et al. 2024. Head anatomy and phylogenomics show the Carboniferous giant Arthropleura belonged to a millipede-centipede group. Science Advances, 10: eadp6362. 10.1126/sciadv.adp6362. On the cover of Sci Adv 10(41).
Mongiardino Koch N, Milla Carmona P. 2024. Chronospaces: An R package for the statistical exploration of divergence times promotes the assessment of methodological sensitivity. Methods in Ecology & Evolution, 15, 1822–1833. 10.1111/2041-210X.14404. Shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize (British Ecological Society).
Ruebenstahl A*, Mongiardino Koch N*, Lamsdell JC, Briggs DEG. 2024. Convergent evolution of giant size in eurypterids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 291: 20241184. 10.1098/rspb.2024.1184.
Stephenson M†, Hiley AS†, Rouse GW, Mongiardino Koch N. 2024. The mitochondrial genome of the deep-sea pyramid urchin Echinocrepis rostrata (Echinoidea: Holasteroida: Pourtalesiidae). Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 9: 390-393. 10.1080/23802359.2024.2333572.
Mongiardino Koch N. 2024. Embracing the taxonomic and topological stability of phylogenomics. Scientific Reports, 14: 4088. 10.1038/s41598-024-54208-4. Matters arising written in response to Lee et al. (2023), 10.1038/s41598-023-36848-0.
Garwood RJ, Spencer ART, Bates CTM, Callender-Crowe LM, Dunn FS, Halliday TJD, et al. 2024. TREvoSim v3: An individual based simulation for generating trees and character data. Journal of Open Source Software, 1: 6722. 10.21105/joss.06722.
Mongiardino Koch N, Garwood RJ, Parry LA. 2023. Inaccurate fossil placement does not compromise tip-dated divergence times. Palaeontology, 66: e12680. 10.1111/pala.12680. Among the top 10 most-cited 2023 articles published in Paleontology.
Briggs DEG, Mongiardino Koch N. 2023. A Silurian pseudocolonial pterobranch. Current Biology, 33: 1–8. 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.024.
Mongiardino Koch N, Tilic E, Stiller J, Miller A, Rouse GW. 2023. Confusion will be my epitaph: Genome-scale discordance stifles phylogenetic resolution of Holothuroidea. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 290: 20230988. 10.1098/rspb.2023.0988. On the cover of Proc B 290(2002).
Guensburg TE, Mooi R, Mongiardino Koch N. 2023. Crinoid calyx origin from stem radial echinoderms. Journal of Paleontology, 97: 1092–1115. 10.1017/jpa.2023.14.
Wilson JD, Mongiardino Koch N, Ramírez MJ. 2022. Chronogram or phylogram for ancestral state reconstruction? Model fit statistics can identify the branch lengths underlying a character’s evolution. Methods in Ecology & Evolution, 13: 1679–1689. 10.1111/2041-210X.13872.
Mongiardino Koch N, Thompson JR, Hiley AS†, McCowin MF, Armstrong AF, Coppard SE, Aguilera F, Bronstein O, Kroh A, Mooi R, Rouse GW. 2022. Phylogenomic analyses of echinoid diversification prompt a re-evaluation of their fossil record. eLife, 11: e72460. 10.7554/eLife.72460.
Mongiardino Koch N. 2021. Phylogenomic subsampling and the search for phylogenetically reliable loci. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38: 4025–4038. 10.1093/molbev/msab151.
Mongiardino Koch N, Parry LA, Garwood R. 2021. Fossils improve phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288: 20210044. 10.1098/rspb.2021.0044. Among the top 5 most-cited 2021 articles published in Proc B.
Mongiardino Koch N. 2021. Exploring adaptive landscapes across deep time: a case study using echinoid body size. Evolution, 75: 1567–1581. 10.1111/evo.14219.
Mongiardino Koch N, Thompson J. 2021. A total-evidence dated phylogeny of Echinoidea combining phylogenomic and paleontological data. Systematic Biology, 70: 421–439. 10.1093/sysbio/syaa069.
Fabbri M, Navalón G, Mongiardino Koch N, Hanson M, Petermann H, Bhullar BA. 2021. A shift in ontogenetic timing produced the unique sauropod skull. Evolution, 75: 819–831. 10.1111/evo.14190.
