Andres Alfonso Rojas

  • PhD Student
Andres Alfonso Rojas

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About

I am a PhD student and Gates Cambridge Scholar in the Vertebrate Paleontology Group at the Department of Zoology. I completed my B.S. in biology (2018) at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; where I also studied civil engineering (2017). 

From 2019 to 2022, I worked as a research assistant at Universidad del Rosario, Colombia; where I developed various research and field work activities at different fossiliferous localities rangind from the Jurassic to Pleistocene. At the same institution, I completed my MSc. in Natural Sciences.

I have been reviewer of the following scientific Journals: Ameghiniana,Comptes Rendus Palevol  Scientific Reports and The Anatomical Record.

Research

My doctoral project aims to understand the tempo and mode of diversification of neotropical snakes, especially colubroids. To accomplish this, I will combine new fossil and molecular data with ecological and life history information to reconstruct the origin of modern snake diversity in the neotropics following a phylogenetic and stratigraphic context.

 

Key publications

Martinez-Motta, M. F., Cortés, D., Maxwell, E. E., Noè, L. F., Alfonso-Rojas, A., Parra-Ruge, F. H., & Cadena, E. A. (2026). Soft-tissue preservation in an ichthyosaur from the lower Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) of Colombia. Cretaceous Research, 106305.

Alfonso-Rojas, A. F., Carrillo-Briceño, J. D., Sánchez, R., Sánchez-Villagra, M. R., & Head, J. J. (2025). An early origin of gigantism in anacondas (Serpentes: Eunectes) revealed by the fossil record. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, e2572967.

Vásquez-Restrepo, J. D, Alfonso-Rojas, A., & Palacios-Aguilar, R. (2024). On the validity of the recently described northern green anaconda Eunectes akayima (Squamata, Serpentes). Bionomina, 37(1), 1-7.

Carrillo, J. D., Jaramillo, C., Abadía, F., Aguilera, O., Alfonso-Rojas, A., Billet, G., ... & Zapata, S. (2023). The Miocene La Venta Biome (Colombia): A century of research and future perspectives. Geodiversitas, 45(26), 739 767

Alfonso-Rojas A., Vanegas R. D., Mariño-Morejón E. & Cadena E.-A. (2023). Newly discovered fossils provide novel insights on the biology of the South American Miocene snake Colombophis Hoffstetter & Rage, 1977, in Carrillo J. D. (ed.), Neotropical palaeontology: the Miocene La Venta biome. Geodiversitas 45 (13): 377-399. https://doi.org/10.5252/geodiversitas2023v45a13. http://geodiversitas.com/45/13

Alfonso-Rojas, A., & Cadena, E. A. (2022). The first benthic insects (Ephemeroptera and Coleoptera) from the Upper Cretaceous of Colombia. Cretaceous Research, 105116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105116

Alfonso‐Rojas, A., Herrera‐Gutierrez, L. M., Suárez, C., Ciancio, M. R., Pelegrin, J. S., & Cadena, E. A. (2021). Late Pleistocene biota from Pubenza, Colombia; turtles, mammals, birds, invertebrates and plant remains. Journal of Quaternary Science, 36(3), 450-466. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3299

Alfonso-Rojas, A., & Cadena, E. A. (2020). Exceptionally preserved ‘skin’ in an Early Cretaceous fish from Colombia. PeerJ, 8, e9479. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9479

Full list of publications: Andrés ALFONSO-ROJAS | PhD Student | Magister in Natural Science | University of Cambridge, Cambridge | Cam | Department of Zoology | Research profile

Teaching and supervision

  • Supervisor, ZL1 Evolution and Comparative Anatomy of Mammals, University of Cambridge
  • Supervisor, ZM1 Vertebrate Evolution, University of Cambridge