Jonathan Bloch
Curator/Professor | University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, UNITED STATES
Jonathan Bloch is a paleontologist focused on the fossil record of vertebrates at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Biography
Jonathan Bloch is a curator of vertebrate paleontology in the Department of Natural History at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Jon's research focuses on fossil vertebrates from the Cenozoic with an emphasis on addressing questions surrounding the first appearance and early evolution of the modern orders of mammals, including primates. He does related field-based research in Florida, Wyoming, Montana, Panama, Indonesia, and Colombia.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Primate Evolution
Paleontology
Fossil Vertebrates
Paleobiology
Vertebrate Paleontology
Media Appearances (3)
Florida fossil porcupine solves a prickly dilemma 10-million years in the making
Florida Museum online
2024-05-28
There’s a longstanding debate simmering among biologists who study porcupines. There are 16 porcupine species in Central and South America, but only one in the United States and Canada. DNA evidence suggests North America’s sole porcupine belongs to a group that originated 10 million years ago, but fossils seem to tell a different story.
Panama Canal expansion rewrites history of world’s most ecologically diverse bats
Florida Museum
2024-02-20
Most bats patrol the night sky in search of insects. New World leaf-nosed bats take a different approach. Among the more than 200 species of leaf-nosed bats, there are those that hunt insects; drink nectar; eat fruit; munch pollen; suck blood; and prey on frogs, birds, lizards and even other bats.
Graveyard of Extinct Elephants From 5 Million Years Ago Found in Florida
Newsweek online
2023-05-26
Paleontologists from the Florida Museum of Natural History made an exciting discovery when they uncovered a graveyard of extinct relatives of elephants dating back to 5 million years ago. The remains were first discovered early last year by Jonathan Bloch, the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the museum, and his team at the Montbrook Fossil Dig site in Levy County, according to blog posts posted by the museum.
Articles (3)
An extinct north American porcupine with a South American tail
Current BiologyNatasha S. Vitek, et. al
2024-05-27
New World porcupines (Erethizontinae) originated in South America and dispersed into North America as part of the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) 3-4 million years ago. 1 Extant prehensile-tailed porcupines (Coendou) today live in tropical forests of Central and South America.
A new early Miocene bat (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from Panama confirms middle Cenozoic chiropteran dispersal between the Americas
Journal of Mammalian EvolutionGary S. Morgan, et. al
2023-11-29
Fossils of an insectivorous bat from the early Miocene of Panama are described as a new genus and species, Americanycteris cyrtodon (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Phyllostominae). Americanycteris is a large phyllostomine bat, similar in size to the living species Chrotopterus auritus.
Virtual endocast of late Paleocene Niptomomys (Microsyopidae, Euarchonta) and early primate brain evolution
Journal of Human EvolutionChelsea L. White, et. al
2023-02-01
Paleogene microsyopid plesiadapiforms are among the oldest euarchontans known from relatively complete crania. Size estimates of smaller-bodied uintasoricines are similar to those inferred for the common ancestor of Primates, so the virtual endocast of Niptomomys may provide a useful model to study early primate brain evolution.
Social