Jorge Salazar-Bravo

Assistant Curator  of Mammals, Natural Science Research Laboratory, Museum at TTU

Associate Professor , Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

Ph.D., University of New Mexico, 2000
B.S., Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia, 1988

 

Dr. Salazar-Bravo's CV |  Dr. Salazar-Bravo's Laboratory 

Research Interests

I am an organismal biologist interested in understanding the origins, maintenance, and current threats to biological diversity, in various groups of mammals. My research uses a combination of museum and laboratory-based approaches to study demographic and evolutionary processes shaping the origin, the genetic structure, and the phylogenetic relationships in various mammalian groups and at various hierarchical levels of biological organization. On a broader scale, my students and I have used specimen-based research to study patterns of biodiversity (genetic, phylogenetic, and functional) to understand how biodiversity is apportioned across geography and as a tool to recommend conservation strategies. I have the privilege of leading and participating in field-based research in Asia and the western hemisphere, with museum-based studies in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile. The combined approach (field, museum, laboratory) has allowed me, my students, and my colleagues to recognize and describe new species, genera, and tribes of small mammals. 

Selected Publications

Weksler et al. 2025. A comprehensive survey of mammal collections and genetic resources in South America: challenges and directions. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 146(1), blaf069. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaf069

Brito J, R Garcia, F Castellanos, G Gavilanes, J Curay, JC Carrion-Olmedo, D Reyes-Barriga, JM Guayasamin, J Salazar-Bravo and CM Pinto. 2024. Two new species of Thomasomys (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) from the western Andes of Ecuador and an updated phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus. Vertebrate Zoology 74: 709-734. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.74.e128528. 

Revollo-Cadima S and J Salazar-Bravo. 2024. Identifying Areas of Conservation Importance Based on Spatial Patterns of Evolutionary Diversity for Non-Volant Small Mammals in the Andean Puna. Journal of Arid Environments 224: 105230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105230

Storz JF, Quiroga-Carmona M, Liphardt S, Herrera N, Bautista NM, Opazo JC, Rico Cernohorska A, Salazar-Bravo J, Good JM & G. D’Elía. 2024. Extreme high-elevation mammal surveys reveal unexpectedly high upper range limits of Andean mice. The American Naturalist 203: 726-735 https://doi.org/10.1086/729513. 

Salazar-Bravo J, Tinoco N, Zeballos H, Brito J, Arenas-Viveros D, Marín-C D, Ramírez-Fernández JD, Percequillo AR, Lee TE Jr, Solari S, Colmenares-Pinzon J, Nivelo C, Rodríguez Herrera B, Merino W, Medina CE, Murillo-García O, Pardiñas UFJ. 2023. Systematics and diversification of the Ichthyomyini (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) revisited: evidence from molecular, morphological, and combined approaches. PeerJ. 11:e14319. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14319. PMID: 36655048; PMCID: PMC9841913.

González-Ittig RE, JD Pinotti, J Carballo, ML Martin, S Levis, G Calderón, I Gomez-Villafañe, J Salazar-Bravo, UFJ Pardiñas. 2022. Molecular systematics and biogeographic insights of the Calomys callosus complex (Rodentia, Cricetidae). Zoologica Scripta, 51, 498– 521. DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12556

Zeballos H, Medina C, Adriana Rico-Cernohorska, and J Salazar-Bravo. 2021. Una especie nueva de Oxymycterus (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae: Akodontini) del sureste de Perú. Mastozoología Neotropical. doi: 10.31687/saremMN.21.28.1.0.26

Arenas-Viveros D, P Sánchez-Vendizú, A Giraldo, J Salazar-Bravo. 2021. A new species of Cynomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from the northwestern slope of the Andes. Mammalia. 85(3):273-286. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2020-0068.

Gardner SL, S Botero-Cañola, E Aliaga-Rossel, A Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan, and J Salazar-Bravo. 2021. Conservation status and natural history of Ctenomys, tuco-tucos in Bolivia. Therya 12:15-36 DOI:10.12933/therya-21-1035 ISSN 2007-3364

Stuhler J, D Arenas-Viveros, J. Salazar-Bravo. 2020. Updated habitat suitability estimates and conservation implications for the short-tailed chinchilla Chinchilla chinchilla (Lichtenstein, 1830) (Rodentia: Chinchillidae). Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Naturais 15(3): 557-572. DOI: http://doi.org/10.46357/bcnaturais.v15i3.273. 

Rico-Cernohorska A, J Salazar-Bravo, J Martínez, SG Revollo, P Kindlmann. 2020. Altitudinal variation of species composition of small non-flying mammals in the Yungas region of Bolivia. Therya 11: 447-458, DOI: 10.12933/therya-20-1000 ISSN 2007-3364.

Jayat, JP, PE Ortiz, G D’Elía, J Salazar-Bravo, and BD Patterson. 2020. Taxonomic status of the nominal forms assigned to Necromys lactens (Rodentia, Cricetidae) as revealed by molecular and morphometric evidence. Journal of Mammalogy, 101:24-35. DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyz187. 

Ruedas, L.A., S.M. Silva, J.H. French, R.N. Platt, II, J. Salazar-Bravo, J.M. Mora, and C.W. Thompson. 2019. Taxonomy of the Sylvilagus brasiliensis complex in Central and South America (Lagomorpha: Leporidae). Journal of Mammalogy 100(5): 1599-1630.

Gonzalez-Ittig, R.E., N.P. Kandel, C. Bonvicino, and J. Salazar-Bravo. 2019. Does the widely distributed rodent Calomys tener (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) constitute a single evolutionary unit?" Zoologia 36: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.36.e30354.

Sánchez J, M Lareschi, J Salazar-Bravo, and SL Gardner. 2018. Fleas of genus Neotyphloceras associated with rodents from Bolivia: New host and distributional records, description of a new species and remarks on the morphology of Neotyphloceras rosenbergi. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 32: 462-472 (https://dor.org/10.1111/mve.12314). 

Delgado, E., L.F. Pacheco, J. Salazar-Bravo, and O. Rocha. 2018. Rediscovery of the chinchilla in Bolivia. Oryx 52:13-14. doi:10.1017/S003060531700179X.

Teta, P., R. González-Ittig, E. González, U.F.J. Pardiñas, and J. Salazar-Bravo. 2017. Notes on the taxonomy of Calomys laucha (Rodentia, Cricetidae), with the designation of a neotype. Mastozoologia Neotropical 24:419-429.

Nascimento F.F., M. Oliveira-Silva, G. Veron, J. Salazar-Bravo, P. R. Gonçalves, A. Langguth, C.R. Silva, and C.R. Bonvicino. 2017. The evolutionary history and genetic diversity of Kinkajous, Potos flavus (Carnivora, Procyonidae). Journal of Mammalian Evolution 24:439-451. DOI: 10.1007/s10914-016-9354-9.

Jayat, J., G. D'Elía, R. Torres, S. Pacheco, P. Ortiz, J. Salazar-Bravo, and B. Patterson. 2017. Integration of morphological, ecological, and genetic evidence suggests that the genus Andinomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae) is monospecific. Journal of Mammalogy 98: 1060–1077

Ruedas, L., S. M. Silva, J. H. French, R. N. Platt II, J. Salazar-Bravo, J. M. Mora, and C. W. Thompson. 2017. A Prolegomenon to the systematics of South American Cottontail rabbits (Mammalia, Lagomorpha, Leporidae: Sylvilagus): Designation of a neotype for S. brasiliensis (Linnaeus, 1758), and restoration of S. andinus (Thomas, 1897) and S. tapetillus Thomas, 1913. Miscellaneous Publications Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 205: 1-67 (plus 3 appendixes)

Salazar-Bravo, J., U.F.J. Pardiñas, H. Zeballos, and P. Teta. 2016. Description of a new tribe of sigmodontine rodents (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) with an updated classification for the subfamily. Museum of Texas Tech University, Occasional Papers 338:1-23.

Pardiñas, UFJ, P. Teta, J. Salazar-Bravo, P. Myers, and C. A. Galliari. 2016. A new species of arboreal rat, genus Oecomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae) from Chaco. Journal of Mammalogy 97: 1177- 1196.

Pardiñas, U.F.J., Teta, P., and J. Salazar–Bravo. 2015. A new tribe of sigmodontine rodents (Cricetidae). Mastozoología Neotropical 22, 171-186.

González-Ittig, Raúl E. , N. Kandel, S. Levis, G. Calderón, J. Salazar–Bravo, and C. N. Gardenal. 2014. Molecular systematics of the South American rodent Calomys laucha (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae), a reservoir of the Laguna Negra hantavirus. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 92(12): 1093-1098 (doi: dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2014-0133).

Gardner, S., J. Salazar–Bravo, and J. Cook. 2014. New species of Ctenomys (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae) from Bolivia. Museum of Texas Tech University, Special Publication 62:1-34.

Pardiñas, U.F.J., G. Lessa, P. Teta, J. Salazar–Bravo, and E. Câmara. 2014. A new genus of sigmodontine rodent from eastern Brazil and the origin of the tribe Phyllotini. Journal of Mammalogy 95: 201-215.

Nascimento, F., Lazar, A., Menezes, A., Durans, A., Moreira, J., Salazar–Bravo, J., D’Andrea, P. and C. Bonvicino. 2013. The role of historical barriers in the diversification processes in open vegetation formations during the Miocene/Pliocene using an ancient rodent lineage as a model. PLoS ONE 8: e61924 http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061924.

Parada, A., U. Pardiñas, J. Salazar–Bravo, G. D´Elía and E. Palma. 2013. Dating an impressive Neotropical radiation: Molecular time estimates for the Sigmodontinae (Rodentia) provide insights into its historical biogeography. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66:960-968

Salazar–Bravo, J., U. Pardiñas and G. D’Elía. 2013. A phylogenetic appraisal of Sigmodontinae (Rodentia, Cricetidae) with emphasis on phyllotine genera: systematics and biogeography. Zoologica Scripta 42(3):250-261.

Dunnum, J. and J. Salazar–Bravo. 2010. Molecular systematics, taxonomy, and biogeography of the genus Cavia (Rodentia: Caviidae). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 48: 376-388