Department of Anthropology

Penn State University

Nina G. Jablonski

Professor and Head of Department of Anthropology

Office: 409 Carpenter Building
Telephone: (814) 865-2509
Email: ngj2@psu.edu
Curriculum Vitae
 

Go to Nina's Lab here

EDUCATION:

  • 1975   A.B., Bryn Mawr College (Biology)
  • 1978   Ph.C., University of Washington (Anthropology)
  • 1981   Ph.D., University of Washington (Anthropology)         

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS:

  • Primate evolution, with emphasis on the evolution of primate lineages in relation to environmental change:  Concentration on the illumination of the history of adaptation, and the relationship between environmental change and the evolution of life histories and diet in Old World primate lineages, especially tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans.  Long-term interest in the evolution and biogeography of Old World monkeys.

  • Evolution of human skin and skin coloration:  Study of the origin and evolution of a functionally naked and pigmented integument in humans, drawing upon anatomical, physiological, paleontological, epidemiological, and environmental data

  • Evolution of hominid bipedalism:  Concentration on the identification of the behaviors which triggered the initial transition to bipedal posture and locomotion in the human lineage, with particular reference to the role of bipedal displays and the importance of physical stature

  • Mammalian paleoecology in the late Tertiary and Quaternary:  Examination of the history of mammalian herbivores in relation to changes in local and global environments, and the differential evolution of brains, jaws, teeth, guts, and hooves in post-Miocene environments.

FIELDWORK:

China (Yunnan), Kenya, Nepal

COURSES TAUGHT:

Primatology (ANTH 405, Spring 2009)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS :

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS :

  • Jablonski, N.G. and Leakey, M.G., eds. (2008)  Koobi Fora Research Project. Volume 6. The Fossil Monkeys.  Occasional Paper of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.  467 pages, plus CDR with fully searchable complete text, and appendices with extra measurements and images.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Leakey, M.G..  (2008)  The importance of the Cercopithecoidea from the Koobi Fora Formation in the context of primate and mammalian evolution.  In:  Jablonski, N.G. and Leakey, M.G. (eds.)  Koobi Fora Research Project.  Volume 6.  The Fossil Monkeys.  California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, pp. 399-418.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (2006)  Skin:  A Natural History.  Berkeley, University of California Press.  Anticipated date of publication.
    McBrearty, S. and Jablonski, N.G.  (2005)  First fossil chimpanzee.  Nature.  437:105-108. 
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (2005)  Primate diversity and environmental seasonality in historical perspective.  In:  D. Brockman and C. van Schaik, eds., Primate Seasonality, pp. 465-488, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (2004)  The evolution of human skin and skin coloration.  Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 33:585-623. 
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (2004)  The hippo’s tale:  How the anatomy, physiology and dietary preference of Late Neogene Hexaprotodon shed light on Late Neogene environmental change.  Quat. Int.  117:119-124.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (2003)  The evolution of the tarsiid niche.  In:  Wright, P.C., Simons, E.L., and Gursky, S., eds. Tarsiers:  Past, Present and Future.  New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, pp. 35-49.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (2002)  The fossil record of Old World monkeys:  The Late Neogene radiation.  In:  W. Hartwig, ed.  The Primate Fossil Record.  Cambridge University Press, pp. 255-299.
  • Jablonski, N.G., Leakey, M.G., Kiarie, C. and Antón, M.  (2002)  A new skeleton of Theropithecus brumpti (Primates:  Cercopithecidae) from Lomekwi, West Turkana, Kenya.  J. Hum. Evol.  43:887-923.
  • Jablonski, N.G., ed. (2002)  The First Americans:  The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World, Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, No. 27. 
  • Jablonski, N.G., Chaplin, G., and McNamara, K.J.  (2001)  Natural selection and the evolution of hominid patterns of growth and development.  In:  Minugh-Purvis, N. and McNamara, K.J., eds.  Human Evolution through Developmental Change.  Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 189-206.
  • Jablonski, N.G., Whitfort, M. J., Roberts-Smith, N. and Xu, Q.-Q.  (2000)  The influence of life history and diet on the distribution of catarrhine primates during the Pleistocene in eastern Asia.  J. Hum. Evol.  39:131-157.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Chaplin, G.  (2000)  The evolution of human skin coloration.  J. Hum. Evol.  39:57-106. 
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1998)  The evolution of the doucs and snub-nosed monkeys and the question of the phyletic unity of the odd-nosed monkeys.  In:  Jablonski, N.G. (ed.) The Natural History of the Doucs and Snub-nosed Monkeys, Singapore:  World Scientific Publishing Co., pp. 13-52.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Aiello, L.E., eds. (1998)  The Origin and Diversification of Language. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, No. 24.
    Chaplin, G. and Jablonski, N.G.  (1998)  Comment on hemispheric difference in skin color.  Am. J. Phys. Anthrop.  107:221-224.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1995)  The phyletic position and systematics of the douc langurs of southeast Asia.  Amer. J. Primatol.  35:185-205.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1994)  Convergent evolution in the dentitions of grazing macropodine marsupials and the grass-eating cercopithecine primate Theropithecus gelada.  J. Roy. Soc. West. Aus.  77:37-43.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1994)  New fossil cercopithecid remains from the Humpata Plateau, southern Angola.  Amer. J. Phys. Anthropol.  94:435-464.
    Chaplin, G., Jablonski, N.G., and Cable, N.T.  (1994)  Physiology, thermoregulation and bipedalism.  J. Hum. Evol.  27:497-510.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Crompton, R.H.  (1994)  Feeding behavior, mastication, and tooth wear in the western tarsier, Tarsius bancanus.  Int. J. Primatol.  15:29-59.
  • Jablonski, N.G., ed.  (1993)  Theropithecus:  The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus.  Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1993)  The evolution of the masticatory apparatus in Theropithecus.  In:  Jablonski, N.G. (Ed.), Theropithecus:  The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 299-329.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1993)  The phylogeny of Theropithecus.  In:  Jablonski, N.G. (Ed.), Theropithecus:  The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 209-224.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1993)  Quaternary environments and the evolution of primates in Eurasia, with notes on two new specimens of fossil Cercopithecidae from China.  Fol. Primatol.  60:118-132.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Chaplin, G.  (1993)  Origin of habitual terrestrial bipedalism in the ancestor of the Hominidae.  J. Hum. Evol.  24:259-280.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Peng, Y.Z.  (1993)  The phylogeny and classification of the doucs and snub-nosed langurs of China and Vietnam.  Fol. Primatol.  60:36-55.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Gu, Y.-M.  (1991)  A reassessment of Megamacaca lantianensis, a large monkey from the Pleistocene of north-central China.  J. Hum. Evol.  20:51-66.
  • Jablonski, N.G.  (1986)  The hand of Theropithecus brumpti.  Selected Proceedings of the Tenth Congress of the International Primatological Society.  Volume 1. Primate Evolution.  Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 173-182.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND INTERVIEWS: