Northern Illinois University
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Karen E. Samonds
Professor

Research Interests

My research integrates comparative anatomy, systematics and biogeography with field paleontology to address topics in vertebrate evolution. My paleontological field research aims to shed light on the origin and evolutionary history of Madagascar's modern fauna, one of the most unique and endemic on the planet. How, when and from where the island's animals came from has remained largely unknown due to a 65 million year gap in the fossil record that occurs during the time when the modern animals are thought to have arrived. By traveling to remote and previously unexplored regions of the island, I have started to elucidate this unknown period of Madagascar's history by collecting and describing the first fossils from this time period.

In addition to studying extinct animals, my research has also examined dental development, life history and growth in non-human primates. My colleagues and I have also used new tools to examine life-history variation among extinct primates (including electron microscopy and ontogenetic studies of dental eruption and root formation). Finally, I work on a collaborative project examining morphometrics (including somatic growth and development) in the endangered lemur Propithecus diadema and investigating the impacts of forest degradation on development and physiologic health.

In association with my research, in 2008 I co-founded the NGO Sadabe to help promote the coexistence of people and wildlife in Madagascar. Sadabe is currently initiating and expanding education, conservation and development activities, as well as the creation of a protected area at Tsinjoarivo, Madagascar.

Representative Publications

Godfrey LR and Samonds KE (2025). No Mass Extinction for South American Mammals at the Eocene-Oligocene Transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). 122 (24) e2509023122.

Samonds KE, Gunnell GF, Goodman SM, Alumbaugh JL, Hand SJ, Irwin MT, Rasolofomanana N and Simmons NB (2025). Oldest record of Cenozoic terrestrial fossil vertebrates (Chiroptera) from Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 44(5).

Coffman-Rea K, Arwood S, Samonds KE, Fuchs DJ and Negrin FP (2024). Laterally positioned external carotid arteries: Two cadaveric case reports. Translational Research in Anatomy 38: 100381.

Coffman-Rea K, Arwood S and Samonds KE (2023). Atypical variations found within the deep gluteal region. Translational Research in Anatomy 34: 100277.

Crowley BE, Godfrey LR and Samonds KE (2023). What can hippopotamus isotopes tell us about past distributions of C4 grassy biomes on Madagascar. Plants, People, Planet, 1–14.

Coffman-Rea K, Vianello A and Samonds KE (2023). A protocol to prevent plastic contamination during sample collection of cadaveric tissues. Protocols.io.

Kehlmaier C, Graciá E, Ali JR, Campbell PD, Chapman SD, Deepak V, Ihlow F, Eddine Jalil N, Pierre-Huyet L, Samonds KE, Vences M and Fritz U (2023). Ancient DNA elucidates the lost world of Western Indian Ocean giant tortoises and reveals a new extinct species from Madagascar. Science Advances 9: eabq2574 (2023).

Heffernan KS, Samonds KE, Godfrey LR, Raharison J-L, Ranaivoarisoa and Irwin MT (2022). Diademed sifakas (Propithecus diadema) in intact and degraded forest habitat at Tsinjoarivo, Madagascar, show high reproductive success and no evidence that dental senescence or rainfall affects reproductive output. Folia Primatologica 93(1), 21-40.

Cline C, Santuzzi A, Samonds KE, LaDue N and Bergan-Roller HE (2021). Assessing value for learning communication skills in undergraduate anatomy students. Anatomical Sciences Education 10.1002/ase.2144.

Godfrey LR, Crowley BE, Muldoon KM, Burns SJ, Scroxton N, Klukkert ZS, Ranivoharimanana L, Alumbaugh J, Borths M, Dart R, Faina P, Goodman SM, Gutierrez IJ, Hansford JP, Hekkela ER, Kinsley CW, Lehman P, Lewis ME, McGee D, Pérez VR, Rahantaharivao J, Rakotoarijaona M, Rasolonjatovo HAM, Samonds KE, Turvey ST, Vasey N and Widmann P (2021). Teasing apart impacts of human activity and regional drought on Madagascar's large vertebrate fauna: insights from new excavations at Tsimanampesotse and Antsirafaly. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9:742203. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.742203.

Alumbaugh JL and Samonds KE (2021). Morphometric analyses of modern and subfossil Macronycteris (family Hipposideridae) refine groups from Anjohibe Cave, northwestern Madagascar. Acta Chiropterologica 23(1): 33-43.

Godfrey LR, Samonds KE, Baldwin J, Sutherland MR, Kamilar J and Allfisher K (2020). Mid-Tertiary climate change and extinction in Madagascar and their bearing on the evolution of Madagascar's lemurs. BMC Evolutionary Biology 20, 97.

Samonds KE, Crowley BE, Rasolofomanana TRN andriambelomanana MC andrianavalona HT, Ramihangihajason TN, Rakotozandry RB, Nomenjanahary ZB, Irwin MT, Wells NA and Godfrey LR (2019). New late Pleistocene subfossil site (Tsaramody, Sambaina basin, central Madagascar) with implications for the chronology of habitat and megafaunal community change on Madagascar's central plateau. Journal of African Earth Sciences, doi:10.1002/jqs.3096.

Samonds KE, Ernat RA andrianavalona T and Domning DP (2019). New Miocene sirenians from the island of Nosy Makamby, northwestern Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39:1, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1570223.

Samonds KE andrianavalona HT, Wallet LA, Zalmout IS and Ward DJ (2019). A Middle Eocene neoselachian assemblage from nearshore marine deposits, Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar. PLoS ONE 14(2): e0211789.

Samonds KE and Fordyce E (2019). The first pre-Pleistocene cetacean from Madagascar, western Indian Ocean. Journal of African Earth Sciences 151: 184-188.

Crowley BE, Godfrey LR, Bankoff RJ, Perry GH, Gulleton BJ, Kennett DJ, Sutherland MR, Samonds KE and Burney DA (2017). Island-wide aridity did not trigger megafaunal extinctions in Madagascar. Ecography 40: 901-912.

Mathews JC and Samonds KE (2016). A juvenile subfossil crocodilian from Anjohibe Cave, Northwestern Madagascar. PeerJ 4:e2296; DOI 10.7717/peerj.2296.

Ohba M, Samonds KE, LaFleur M, Ali JR and Godfrey LR (2016). Madagascar's climate at the K/P boundary. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 441: 688–695.

Andrianavalona TH, Ramihangihajason TN, Rasoamiaramanana A, Ward DJ, Ali JR and Samonds KE (2015). Miocene shark fauna from Nosy Makamby (Mahajanga Basin, Northwestern Madagascar) PLoS ONE 10(6): e0129444.

Samonds KE, Godfrey LR, Ali JR, Goodman SM, Vences M, Sutherland MR, Irwin MT and Krause DW (2013). Imperfect isolation: factors and filters shaping Madagascar's extant vertebrate fauna. PLoS ONE 8(4): e62086.

Samonds KE, Godfrey LR, Ali JR, Goodman SM, Vences M, Sutherland MR, Irwin MT, Krause DW (2012). Spatial and temporal arrival patterns of Madagascar's vertebrate fauna explained by distance, ocean currents and ancestor type. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 109, 5352-5357.

Samonds KE, Parent SN, Muldoon KM, Crowley BE and Godfrey LR (2010). Rock matrix surrounding subfossil lemur skull yields diverse collection of mammalian subfossils: Implications for reconstructing Madagascar's paleoenvironments. Malagasy Nature 4, 1-16.

Samonds KE, Zalmout I, Irwin MT, Krause DW, Rogers RR and Raharivony LL (2009). Eotheroides lambondrano, new Middle Eocene seacow (Mammalia, Sirenia) from the Mahajanga Basin, Northwestern Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29, 1233-1243.

Samonds, KE (2007). Late Pleistocene bat fossils from Anjohibe Cave, northwestern Madagascar. Acta Chiropterologica 9, 39–65.