Allen G. Collins Zoologist, NMFS, NOAA
National Systematics Lab

• Phone: 202-633-0645
• Fax: 202-357-2986
• E-mail: collinsa@si.edu
website


• Mailing Address:
  Smithsonian Institution
  PO Box 37012, MRC 163
  Washington, DC 20013-7012
  


• Courier Delivery Address:
  Smithsonian Institution
  National Museum of Natural History
  10th and Constitution Ave, NW
  Washington, DC 20560-0163
  

Responsibilities: Invertebrate Zoologist with Curatorial Responsibilities for Medusozoa (Cnidaria) and Hexactinellida (Porifera)



Education:
University of California at Berkeley, Department of Integrative Biology, Major Professor: James W. Valentine, Degree and Date: PhD, 1999
Amherst College, Majors: Mathematics and Economics, Degree and Date: BA, 1987

Research Interests: My research focuses on the evolutionary history of relatively simple animals, cnidarians (jellyfishes, corals, etc.), placozoans (aka Trichoplax), and sponges. I generate and use evolutionary trees, known as phylogenetic hypotheses, to better understand how the amazing biodiversity of these groups -- in terms of morphology, life history, and genetics -- has come to be.

Professional Activities: Editorial Board Member of Systematic Biology
PI (with 8 others) on NSF Assembling the tree of life program - An integrative approach to investigating cnidarian phylogeny, 2005-2009

Recent Publications:

Nawrocki, Annalise M., Collins, Allen G., Hirano, Yayoi M., Schuchert, Peter and Cartwright, Paulyn 2013. Phylogenetic placement of Hydra and relationships within Aplanulata (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 67(1): 60-71. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.12.016

Hill, Malcolm S., Hill, April L., Lopez, Jose, Peterson, Kevin J., Pomponi, Shirley, Diaz, Maria C., Thacker, Robert W., Adamska, Maja, Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Cárdenas, Paco, Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia, Danka, Elizabeth, De Laine, Bre-Onna, Formica, Dawn, Hajdu, Eduardo, Lobo-Hajdu, Gisele, Klontz, Sarah, Morrow, Christine C., Patel, Jignasa, Picton, Bernard, Pisani, Davide, Pohlmann, Deborah, Redmond, Niamh E., Reed, John, Richey, Stacy, et al 2013. Reconstruction of Family-Level Phylogenetic Relationships within Demospongiae (Porifera) Using Nuclear Encoded Housekeeping Genes. Plos One, 8(1) doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050437

Diaz, Maria C., Thacker, Robert W., Redmond, Niamh E., Matterson, K. enan O. and Collins, Allen G. 2013. Phylogenetic Novelties and Geographic Anomalies among Tropical Verongida. Integrative and Comparative Biology, doi:10.1093/icb/ict033

Appeltans, Ward, Ahyong, Shane T, Anderson, Gary, Angel, Martin V, Artois, Tom, Bailly, Nicolas, Bamber, Roger, Barber, Anthony, Bartsch, Ilse, Berta, Annalisa, Blazewicz-Paszkowycz, Magdalena, Bock, Phil, Boxshall, Geoff, Boyko, Christopher B, Brandão, Simone Nunes, Bray, Rod A, Bruce, Niel L, Cairns, Stephen D, Chan, Tin-Yam, Cheng, Lanna, Collins, Allen G, Cribb, Thomas, Curini-Galletti, Marco, Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid, Davie, Peter J F., et al 2012. The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity. Current Biology, 22(23): 2189-2202. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.036

Smith, David R., Kayal, Ehsan, Yanagihara, Angel A., Collins, Allen G., Pirro, Stacy and Keeling, Patrick J. 2012. First Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence from a Box Jellyfish Reveals a Highly Fragmented Linear Architecture and Insights into Telomere Evolution. Genome Biology and Evolution, 4(1): 52-58. doi:10.1093/gbe/evr127

Dohrmann, Martin, Vargas, Sergio, Janussen, Dorte, Collins, Allen G. and Wörheide, Gert 2012. Molecular paleobiology of early-branching animals: integrating DNA and fossils elucidates the evolutionary history of hexactinellid sponges. Paleobiology, 39(1): 95-108. doi:10.1666/0094-8373-39.1.95

Weigt, Lee A., Driskell, Amy C., Ormos, Andrea, Meyer, Christopher P. and Collins, Allen Gilbert 2012. Introduction to animal DNA barcoding protocols. In: DNA Barcodes: Methods and Protocols.(Methods in molecular biology) pp.11-16.

Lewis, Cheryl, Migita, Masao, Hashimoto, Hiroshi and Collins, Allen G. 2012. On the occurrence of freshwater jellyfish in Japan 1928–2011: eighty-three years of records of mamizu kurage (Limnomedusae, Olindiidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 125(2): 165-179. doi:10.2988/11-31.1

Kayal, Ehsan, Bentlage, Bastian, Collins, Allen G., Kayal, Mohsen, Pirro, Stacy and Lavrov, Dennis V. 2012. Evolution of Linear Mitochondrial Genomes in Medusozoan Cnidarians. Genome Biology and Evolution, 4(1): 1-12. doi:10.1093/gbe/evr123

Orellana, Evan R. and Collins, Allen G. 2011. First report of the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora (Cubozoa: Tripedaliidae) in the continental USA, from Lake Wyman, Boca Raton, Florida. Marine Biodiversity Records, 4 doi:10.1017/S1755267211000133

Collins, Allen G., Bentlage, Bastian, Gillan, William (Bud), Lynn, Tara H., Morandini, Andre C. and Marques, Antonio C. 2011. Naming the Bonaire banded box jelly, Tamoya ohboya, n. sp. (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida: Tamoyidae). Zootaxa, 2753: 53-68.

Bayha, Keith M., Dawson, Michael N., Collins, Allen Gilbert, Barbeitos, Marcos S. and Haddock, Steven H. D. 2010. Evolutionary Relationships Among Scyphozoan Jellyfish Families Based on Complete Taxon Sampling and Phylogenetic Analyses of 18S and 28S Ribosomal DNA. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 50(3): 436-455.

Kahn, Amanda S., Matsumoto, George I., Hirano, Yayoi M. and Collins, Allen Gilbert 2010. Haliclystus californiensis, a "new" species of stauromedusa (Cnidaria: Staurozoa) from the northeast Pacific, with a key to the species of Haliclystus. Zootaxa, 2518: 49-59.

Bentlage, Bastian, Cartwright, Paulyn, Yanagihara, Angel A., Lewis, Cheryl, Richards, Gemma S. and Collins, Allen Gilbert 2010. Evolution of box jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa), a group of highly toxic invertebrates. Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) B, 277(1680): 493-501.

Miranda, Lucilia S., Collins, Allen Gilbert and Marques, Antonio C. 2010. Molecules Clarify a Cnidarian Life Cycle - The "Hydrozoan'' Microhydrula limopsicola Is an Early Life Stage of the Staurozoan Haliclystus antarcticus. Plos One, 5(4): e10182 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010182

Dohrmann, M., Collins, Allen Gilbert and Woerheide, G. 2009. New insights into the phylogeny of glass sponges (Porifera, Hexactinellida): Monophyly of Lyssacinosida and Euplectellinae, and the phylogenetic position of Euretidae. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 52: 257-262.



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