Daniel Jablonski, PhD. 
Institutional address:
Comenius University in Bratislava
Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská dolina, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia
e-mail: daniel.jablonski[@]uniba.sk
web: www.danieljablonski.com, www.balcanica.info,
www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel_Jablonski
Birthdate: April 23th, 1987, Karviná, Czechoslovakia
Nationality: Czech
Research Interests:
1) The evolutionary history and biogeography of herpetofauna in the Balkans, Middle East, and Central Asia
2) Taxonomy and systematics of amphibians and reptiles in Eurasia
3) The evolutionary history of Anguidae
Education:
Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bratislava, Systematic Biology and Ecology (2008-2011, B.Sc.).
Bachelor thesis: Comparative phylogeography of the fauna of the Balkan Peninsula (advisor: Václav Gvoždík).
Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bratislava, Zoology (2011-2013, M.Sc.)
Diploma thesis: Mitochondrial diversity and haplotype distribution of the slow worms of the genus Anguis (Reptilia, Anguidae) in the Balkan Peninsula (advisor: Václav Gvoždík).
Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bratislava, Zoology (2013-2017, Ph.D.)
Ph.D. Thesis: Genetic diversity and phylogeography of Anguidae in the Balkan Peninsula and their comparison with the biogeography of other herpetofauna (advisors: Ján Kodada, Václav Gvoždík).
Membership in professional groups:
The Co-Editor of the Alytes journal: 2023 - present.
The Global Assessment of Reptile Distributions (GARD): 2021 - present
The Taxonomic committee of SEH - Societas Europaea Herpetologica: 2018 - present.
The Royal Zoological Society of Belgium: 2014 - 2016.
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles: 2014 - present.
Societas Europaea Herpetologica: 2012 – present.
The Journal of the Czech Herpetological Society (co-editor): 2010 - present.
Czech Herpetological Society (board member): 2004 – present.
The Terrarium Society of Prague: 2006 – 2015.
Balcanica.info (editor, co-author): 2006 – present.
Visited institutions:
Wardak University, Wardak, Afghanistan - 2024
Guest professor at Nangarhar University, Jalalabad, Afghanistan - 2024
Guest professor at Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan - 2024
The Natural History Museum, London, UK - 2024
University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Iraq - 2024
The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani - 2024
Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum, University of Baghdad - 2024
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria - 2024
Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany - 2024
National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 2024
The Natural History Museum Vienna, Austria - 2024
The Natural History Museum Vienna, Austria - 2023
Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan - 2023
Guest professor at Takhar University, Taloqan, Afghanistan - September 2023
The Institute of Zoology of Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan - 2023
American University in Beirut, Lebanon - 2023
University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Iraq - 2023
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies at Tel Aviv University, Israel - 2022
The Natural History Museum Vienna, Austria - 2022
National Environmental Protection Agency, Kabul, Afghanistan - 2022
National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 2022
American University in Beirut, Lebanon - 2022
Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan - 2021
The University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan - 2021
The Ministry of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan - 2021
Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Punjab, Pakistan - 2020
Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan - 2020
Swat University, Pakistan - 2019
Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan - 2019
The Institute of Zoology of Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan - 2019
Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq - 2019
Senckenberg Natural History Museum, Zoology, Dresden, Germany - 2019
Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan - 2018
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies at Tel Aviv University, Israel - 2018
American University in Beirut, Lebanon - 2018
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia - 2018
The Zoological Museum of Moscow University, Russia - 2018
University of Wroclaw, Poland - 2017
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Research facility Studenec, Czech Republic - 2015
University of Gjirokastër, Albania - 2013
National Museum of Natural History in Sofia, Bulgaria - 2012
National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic - 2011-2017
Service as a reviewer
Co-Editor: Alytes
Assistant Editor: Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum
Guest Editor: Diversity - The Evolutionary History and Biogeography of Herpetofauna
Journals/Publishing houses: Acta Herpetologica, Acta Zoologica Bulgarica, Alytes, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, Amphibia-Reptilia, Anatomical Science International, Animal Biodiversity and Conservation, Behaviour, Biharean Biogeographia - The Journal of Integrative Biogeography, Biologist, Bioinformatics, Biologia, Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society, California Fish and Game Journal, Diversity, Diversity and Distribution, Ecology, Ecology & Evolution, Ecologia Balkanica, Ecologica Montenegrina, Evolution Letters (invited), Fauna Norvegica, Folia Faunistica Slovaca, Herpetology Notes, Herpetozoa, Herpetological Journal, Jordan Journal of Natural History, Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, International Journal of Biometeorology, Israel Journal of Ecology & Evolution, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Molecular Ecology Resources, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Nature Communications (invited), Natura Croatica, North-western Journal of Zoology, Oxford University Press, Pacific Science, Parasitology International, Parnassiana Archives, Phyllomedusa, PLOS One, Reptiles & Amphibians, Russian Journal of Herpetology, Salamandra, Science (invited), Scientific Reports (invited), Texas Journal of Science, The South American Journal of Herpetology, Turkish Journal of Zoology, Vertebrate Zoology, Wildlife Biology, ZooKeys, Zoology in the Middle East, Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society, Zoological Research, Zoologica Scripta, Zootaxa, Živa.
Visited countries of research trips:
2003: Croatia
2005: Croatia, Slovakia.
2006: Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Slovakia.
2007: Albania, Croatia, Egypt, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia.
2008: Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Romania, Hungary, Spain, France, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece.
2009: India, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Italy.
2010: Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2011: Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Botswana, Republic of South Africa.
2012: Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, USA.
2013: Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, North Macedonia, Albania.
2014: Austria, Netherlands, Panama, Costa Rica, USA, China, Vietnam, Hungary, North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Slovenia, Greece, United Kingdom.
2015: Israel, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Serbia & Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Ukraine, Armenia, Croatia, Russia, Maldives.
2016: Hungary, Serbia & Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Romania, Montenegro, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Laos.
2017: Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, United Arab Emirates, Tajikistan, Turkey, Sarawak - Malaysia, Singapore.
2018: Russia, Greece, Lebanon, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Israel, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Serbia, Hungary, Cyprus.
2019: Turkey, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Albania, Pakistan, Greece.
2020 (COVID-19 pandemic): Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Qatar, Pakistan, Oman.
2021 (COVID-19 pandemic): Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Turkey, Pakistan (Balochistan, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh), Greece.
2022: Greece, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Turkey, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Serbia, Slovenia, Italy, Israel, Saudi Arabia.
2023: Saudi Arabia, Kosovo, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Slovenia, Croatia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan.
2024: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Slovenia, Malaysia (Sarawak), United Kingdom, Qatar, Pakistan, Afghanistan.
2025: Slovenia, Turkey, Oman, Qatar, Pakistan (Balochistan), Azerbaijan.
Awards, Grants, and Scholarships:
2024 - NextGenerationEU, the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic, 09I03-03-V04-00306, principal investigator.
2023 - Dr. Ludmila Sedlárová-Rabanova Prize.
2022 - The finalist of the Eset Science Award in the category of Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia under the age of 35.
2021 - Genetic diversity, phylogeography, and taxonomy of the family Colubridae and Natricidae (Reptilia: Ophidia) in the Western Palaearctic, VEGA 1/0242/21, principal investigator.
2020 - Science and Technology Award: Personality of Science and Technology under the age of 35, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.
2020 - Diversity and evolution of protistan and animal species, APVV-19-0076, co-investigator.
2019 - Award of the Faculty of Life Sciences, Swat University, Mingora, Pakistan.
2019 - AXA nadačný fond & Nadácia Pontis, Mladý inovátor, co-investigator.
2019 - Hybridizácia, genetická variabilita a parazitizmus v sexuálno-asexuálnom komplexe obojživelníkov (Pelophylax, Ranidae), co-investigator.
2017 - Taxonomical position of the Pontic lineage in Anguis colchica, UK/135/2017.
2016 - Dean's Award of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava.
2016 – 2020 - Reconstruction of phylogeny and delimitation of protistan and animal species, APVV-15-0147, co-investigator.
2016 – 2019 - DNA Barcoding Elmidae, VEGA 2/0101/16, co-investigator.
2016 - Distribution modeling and niche overlap in the genus Anguis on the Balkan Peninsula, UK/3/2016.
2015 - Mapping the herpetofauna of Albania. SEH Grant in Herpetology – Mapping & Distribution.
2015 - Mechanisms and genetic structure of contact zones of Anguis in the Balkans, UK/37/2015.
2015 - The best poster on the conference of Zoologické dny Brno 2015: Contrasting evolutionary histories of four slow-worm (Anguis) species in the Balkans
2014 – 2017 - Genetic diversity, phylogeography, and hybridization of the Slow worms, genus Anguis (Reptilia, Anguidae), VEGA 1/0073/14, co-investigator.
2014 - Genetic diversity of four species of Slow worms in the Balkans, UK/20/2014.
2013 - The award of the Rector of Comenius University in Bratislava for an excellent diploma thesis.
2013 - Travel Grant of Societas Europaea Herpetologica.
2012 - Winning poster on the Slovak congress Zoológia 2012/18. Feriancove dni, Zvolen.
2010 – 2017 - Scholarship of Comenius University for scientific activities
Filmography:
1. Turtle Puzzle (2020) - theme, screenplay, the main protagonist. Premiere 4 April 2021, RTVS.
Featured by: Faculty of Natural Sciences, Agrofilm.
Photography:
1. People and culture of Albania, photographic exhibition, Embassy of Albania in Bratislava, September 5, 2019.
2. Fijet - Travel and Emotions, photographic exhibition, Galérie Fontana, Piešťany, Slovakia, October 15, 2019.
3. Festival "Iné Cesty", Košice, Slovakia, March 24.-25., 2023.
Changes in the taxonomy:
2025 - Bombina variegata rhodopensis - after more than 35 years new described taxon in the western Palearctic Bombina; Dufresnes et al. 2025.
2024 - Scutiger kanjiroba, a new species of the genus from the Central Himalayas; Hofmann et al. 2024.
2024 - Crossobamon orientalis (Blanford, 1876) is reassigned to the genus Bunopus Blanford, 1874; Pola et al. 2024.
2024 - The nuclear tree suggests that Vipera walser Ghielmi, Menegon, Marsden, Laddaga & Ursenbacher 2016 and Vipera barani Böhme & Joger, 1984 should be ranked as subspecies of Vipera berus; Dufresnes et al. 2024.
2024 - The numerous lineages assigned or associated (“cf.”) to Pelophylax ridibundus, P. kurtmuelleri, P. bedriagae, P. cypriensis, P. cerigensis, P. caralitanus all belong to a fairly young diversification (<3.5 My; with extensive admixture across the most divergent lineages in northern Greece) which altogether preliminary suggests a single species with high phylogeographic diversity. Lineages with available names are thus treated as subspecies of Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771); Dufresnes et al. 2024.
2023 - The genus Blanus in Iraq belongs to Blanus alexandri Sindaco, Kornilios, Sacchi & Lymberakis, 2014; Jablonski et al. 2023.
2023 - The high degree of inferred reproductive isolation in southern and northern populations of Vipera ammodytes suggests different species of this viper in the Balkans, specifically Vipera meridionalis (Boulenger, 1903); Thanou et al. 2023.
2023 - The resolved phylogeny of these frogs compared to previous trees and strongly support the placement of Allopaa hazarensis in the genus Nanorana; Hofmann et al. 2023.
2023 - Central Asiatic populations of the genus Oligodon are related to Oligodon transcaspicus (Nikolsky, 1902); Lee et al. 2023.
2023 - Lycodon bicolor Nikolsky (1903) is forming different clade and it is distinct species from L. striatus (Shaw, 1802). The Sri Lankan subspecies, L. s. sinhaleyus Deraniyagala, 1955 is synonymize with L. striatus and L. mackinnoni Wall, 1906 is synonymize with L. bicolor; Amarasinghe et al. 2023.
2023 - New species of the rat snake, Elaphe druzei Jablonski, Ribeiro-Júnior, Meiri, 2023 was described from Israel, Lebanon, and Syria; Jablonski et al. 2023.
2022 - Pakistani populations of the genus Euphlyctis are formed by two species, Euphlyctis adolfi (Gunther, 1860) and E. cyanophlyctis (Schneider, 1799); Dufresnes et al. 2022.
2022 - The range-wide taxonomic revision of the genus Euphlyctis showed the validity of Euphlyctis adolfi (Gunther, 1860) with the junior synonym E. kalasgramensis Howlader, Nair, Gopalan, Merilä, 2015 and uncovered other two candidate species; Dufresnes et al. 2022.
2022 - Eremias killasaifullahi Masroor et al., 2022 and Eremias rafiqi Masroor et al., 2022; new species of lizards described from Pakistan; Masroor et al. 2022.
2022 - Duttaphrynus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802) elevated from synonyms of D. melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) for populations from east India, north of the Western Ghats, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and provisionally for Bhutan. Introduced populations are in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore; Jablonski et al. 2022.
2022 - The genus Eublepharis forms several candidate species in the northern Indian subcontinent and E. turcmenicus Darevsky, 1977 is possibly the junior synonym of E. maucularius; Agarwal et al. 2022.
2021 - Podarcis thais (Buchholz, 1960) has a species status; Kiourtsoglou et al. 2021.
2021 - Natrix natrix cypriaca (Hecht, 1930) becomes a junior synonym of N. n. moreotica and Natrix natrix persa (Pallas, 1814) becomes a junior synonym of N. n. scutata; Asztalos et al. 2021.
2021 - names Calotes vultuosus (Harlan, 1825) and Calotes farooqi Auffenberg and Rehman, 1995 are valid species according to the integrative revision; Gowande et al. 2021.
2021 - Platyceps collaris is divided into two subspecies, P. c. collaris (Levant), and P. c. rubriceps (Balkan-Anatolia) with its junior synonym, Coluber rubriceps thracius Rehák, 1985; Šmíd et al. 2021.
2021 - Pakistani populations of the genus Sphaerotheca belong to S. maskeyi (Schleich and Anders, 1998); Jablonski et al. 2021.
2021 - Pseudopus apodus levantinus Jablonski et al., 2021; new subspecies of sheltopusik from the Levant; Jablonski et al. 2021.
2021 - Eremias scripta Strauch, 1867 is a species complex; Khan et al. 2021.
2021 - Eremias aporosceles Alcock and Finn, 1897 is a synonym of E. acutirostris (Boulenger, 1887); Khan et al. 2021.
2020 - Pakistani populations of the genus Microhyla belong to M. nilphamariensis Howlader, Nair, Gopalan, Merilä, 2015; Jablonski et al. 2020.
2020 - Microgecko helenae fasciatus should be elevated to species rank, M. fasciatus (Schmidtler & Schmidtler, 1972); Jablonski et al. 2020.
2020 - Xerotyphlops syriacus (Jan, 1864) revalidated from synonymy; Kornilios et al. 2020.
2020 - Eremias kakari Masroor, Khisroon, Khan, Jablonski, 2020; new lacertid lizard from Pakistan; Masroor et al. 2020.
2020 - Microgecko tanishpaensis Masroor, Khisroon, Khan, Jablonski, 2020; new dwarf gecko from Pakistan; Masroor et al. 2020.
2020 - after ten years, the updated checklist of the European herpetofauna with taxonomic evaluation was published; Speybroeck et al. 2020.
2019 - Bufotes boulengeri siculus (Stöck et al. 2008), subspecies of B. boulengeri, not separate species; Dufresnes et al. 2019.
2019 - Bufotes sitibundus (Pallas, 1771) removed from the synonymy of Bufotes variabilis; Dufresnes et al. 2019.
2019 - Bufotes perrini Mazepa, Litvinchuk, Jablonski, Dufresnes, 2019; new toad species endemic to Central Asia; Dufresnes et al. 2019.
2019 - Bufotes cypriensis Litvinchuk, Mazepa, Jablonski, Dufresnes, 2019; new toad species endemic to Cyprus island; Dufresnes et al. 2019.
2019 - Elaphe urartica Jablonski, Kukushkin, Avcı, Bunyatova, Ilgaz, Tuniyev et Jandzik, 2019; new snake species in Europe named after the long-forgotten Iron Age Kingdom; Jablonski et al. 2019
2018 - Mediodactylus bartoni, M. danilewskii, M. oertzeni and M. orientalis are distinct species with revised subspecific taxonomy; Kotsakiozi et al. 2018
2017 - Natrix natrix helvetica is a distinct species Natrix helvetica; Kindler et al. 2017
2017 - A new species of riffle beetle dedicated to me - Vietelmis jablonskii; Kodada et al. 2017
2017 - Vipera ursinii graeca is a distinct endemic species Vipera graeca; Mizsei et al. 2017
2017 - Validity of Podarcis tauricus thasopulae and P. gaigeae weigandii unfounded; Psonis et al. 2017
2017 - Podarcis ionicus elevated to a distinct endemic species; Psonis et al. 2017
2016 - Lacerta bilineata fejervaryi and L. b. chlorosecunda synonymized with L. b. bilineata; Marzahn et al. 2016
2016 - Lacerta viridis infrapunctata and L. v. paphlagonica synonymized with Lacerta viridis meridionalis; Marzahn et al. 2016
2013 - Natrix megalocephala synonymized with Natrix natrix; Kindler et al. 2013
2010 - Anguis fragilis splitted to Anguis colchica and Anguis graeca; Gvoždík et al. 2010
