Professor Emeritus; Curator Emeritus
About
Research interests
Dr. Kluge continues his interest in phylogenetic inference. His recent contributions include an ideographic character concept, a quantitative rationale for parsimony, and arguments against evidence defined intensionally in terms of the similarity of an organism's properties. In addition, he has published on a new phylogenetic taxonomy, in both theory and practice, and offered a dissenting view on the study of adaptation in an historical context. He continues his empirical research on phylogenetic affinities among squamates, focusing on the relationships of varanoid and pygopod species.
Academic background
Kluge received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 1964; his dissertation was an evolutionary and biogeographic study of Australian gekkonoid lizards under the direction of Jay M. Savage. He taught for one year at San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, CA, before accepting a position at the University of Michigan. He was a founding member and president of the Willi Hennig Society, and editor of Cladistics. He is a Fulbright Fellow and a Guggenheim Scholar, and was awarded U-M's Innovative Teaching Award in 1972.
Affiliation(s)
Field(s) of Study
- Systematics and evolution
