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Christopher Tudge Professor CAS | BIO | Biology

Degrees
PhD, Zoology, The University of Queensland, Australia

MS, The University of Queensland, Australia

BS, The University of Queensland, Australia

Bio
Dr. Tudge is a reproductive biologist with particular interests in the reproductive biology of invertebrates. His research focuses on the reproductive cells and associated structures, evolutionary mechanisms, and reproductive behaviors of marine decapod crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, crayfish and lobsters). He also has experience dealing with other invertebrate and vertebrate groups and his knowledge of reproduction in crustaceans can be directly applied to other taxa. He uses this interest in crustacean reproduction to investigate the evolutionary history (phylogeny) of particular crabs in the marine environment and his work has direct application to aquaculture of commercial species and conservation of marine and freshwater crustaceans. Dr. Tudge is also a keen local natural historian and bird biologist and teaches classes on ornithology, marine biology and marine mammals. He is affiliated faculty in the Department of Environmental Studies at AU and routinely has undergraduate independent research projects and graduate research projects in both biology and environmental studies. Some of the projects his recent MS students have undertaken include studying coyotes in Washington, DC, invertebrate ecosystems in urban environments, captive songbirds and migratory restlessness, and food resource use in mantled howler monkeys. Dr. Tudge has an active research affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and numerous contacts in local county and state parks where research projects have occurred. He currently has active research collaborations in Brazil and Iran.
See Also
Biology Department
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-342 Marine Mammals

Spring 2025

  • BIO-210 General Biology II

  • BIO-210 General Biology II

  • BIO-210 General Biology II

  • BIO-210 General Biology II

  • BIO-210 General Biology II

  • BIO-444 The Biology of Birds

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Executive Experience

  • (2018-present) Editorial Board, Journal of Animal Diversity, Iran
  • (2018-present) Regional Representative (USA), International Society of Invertebrate Reproduction & Development
  • (2015-2019) Faculty Director, AU Honors Program, American University
  • (2012-2014) President, The Crustacean Society, USA
  • (2010-present) Editorial Board/Associate Editor, Editor-in-Chief, Nauplius (Brazilian Crustacean Society), Brazil
  • (2005-2015) Faculty Advisor & Editor, "Catalyst" science magazine, American University
  • (2005-2013) Associate Editor, Gulf and Caribbean Research, USA
  • (2005-2008) Multidisciplinary Science & Math Coordinator, College of Arts and Sciences, American University
  • (2002-2017) Virginia Museum of Natural History, Research Associate, Martinsville, Virginia
  • (1999-present) Assistant, Associate and Full Professor, Biology Department, American University
  • (1999-2023) Smithsonian Institution, Research Associate, Washington, DC
  • (1998-2001) Honorary Research Consultant, Department of Zoology & Entomology, The University of Queensland, Australia
  • (1996-1999) Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Melbourne, Australia
  • (1995-1996) Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington, DC

Selected Publications

  • Tan, M.M.J., Tudge, C.C., Penna-Diaz, M.A. and Thiel,M. (2020). Chapter 3. Fertilization success in crustaceans from the male perspective: Sperm ultrastructure and sperm economy. In: R. Cothran & M. Thiel (eds), The Natural History of the Crustacea, Vol. 6. Reproductive Biology. Pp. 60-85.
  • Sepahvand, V., Momtazi, F. and Tudge, C. (2020). A new species of ghost shrimp of the genus Michaelcallianassa Sakai, 2002 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea: Callichiridae) from subtidal waters of the Persian Gulf, Iran. Zootaxa 4810(2): 383-388 (DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4810.2.12).
  • Sepahvand, V. and Tudge, C.C. (2019). Update on the burrowing shrimps (Axiidea and Gebiidea) of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, Iran including first finding of Corallianassa martensi (Miers, 1884) in Iranian waters. Journal of Animal Diversity 1(2): 1-8. (DOI: 10.29252/JAD.2019.1.2.1).
  • Kwon, M. J., Tudge, C. C., Kim, K., Baker, D. and MacAvoy, S. E. (2018). Museum collections yield information on nitrogen sources for coastal Gulf of Mexico, North Carolina and Caribbean Sea invertebrates 1850 to 2004. Journal of Shellfish Research, 37(5): 1159-1165. https://doi.org/10.2983/035.037.0525.
  • Camargo, T. R., Wolf, M. R., Mantelatto, F. L., Tudge, C. C and Zara, F. J. (2018). Ultrastructure of spermatozoa of members of Calappidae, Aethridae and Menippidae and discussion of their phylogenetic placement. Acta Zoologica, 2018: 1-12. (DOI: 10.1111/azo.12273).
  • Sepahvand, V., Tudge, C.C. and Momtazi, F. (2018). Callianassa ehsani, a new species of Callianassidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Axiidea) from the Gulf of Oman, Iran. Zootaxa 4410(2): 370-378 (DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4410.2.6).
  • Tudge, C. C., Lemaitre, R. and Schneider-Paolantonio, K. (2018). Studies of male sexual tubes in hermit crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea). III. Morphology of the sexual tube in Catapagurus sharreri A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Paguridae). Journal of Crustacean Biology, 38(2): 235-240 (doi:10.1093/jcbiol/rux124).
  • Assugeni, C. O., Magalhaes, T., Bolanos, J., Tudge, C. C., Mantelatto, F. L. and Zara, F. J. (2017). Ultrastructure of the spermatozoa of spider crabs, family Mithracidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura): Integrative analysis based on morphological and molecular data. Journal of Morphology 278: 1628-1646 (doi: 10.1002/jmor.20737)
  • Dworschak, P., Felder, D. and Tudge, C. C. (2012). Infraorders Axiidea de Saint Laurent, 1979 and Gebiidea de Saint Laurent, 1979 (formerly known collectively as Thalassinidea). In: F. R. Schram & J. C. von Vaupel Klein (eds) Treatise on Zoology – Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology – The Crustacea, Vol. 9.Part B. Eucarida: Decapoda: Astacidea P. P. (Enoplometopoidea, Nephropoidea), Glypheidea, Axiidea, Gebiidea, and Anomura. Koninglijke Brill, Netherlands, pp. 109-219.
  • Mantelatto, F. L. and Tudge, C.C. (2010). (Editors) Biology of Anomura III. Proceedings of a symposium at The Crustacean Society Summer Meeting in Tokyo, Japan & 47th Annual Meeting of the Carcinological Society of Japan, September 20-24, 2009. Nauplius 18(1): 1-102

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • (2004) Adjunct Faculty, Biology Department, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette
  • (2002-2007) Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, Virginia, Research Associate
  • (1999-2005) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology, Research Associate
  • (1998-2001) Honorary Research Consultant, Department of Zoology & Entomology, The University of Queensland, Australia
  • (1996-1999) Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • (1995-1996) Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow
  • (1992) French Government Scientific Fellowship

AU Experts

Area of Expertise

Reproductive biology, marine zoology, crustacean reproduction and taxonomy, crustacean evolution, biology of birds

Additional Information

Christopher Tudge has published more than 70 papers in international scientific journals on aspects of crustacean ecology, evolution, and reproduction with colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution and with coauthors in Australia, Japan, France, Argentina, Italy, Brazil and Iran. He is a current member, and was the past president, of the Crustacean Society, an international society of crustacean biologists. He is also an active member of the Brazilian Crustacean Society and the International Society for Invertebrate Reproduction and Development. Tudge has presented talks or posters, or chaired sessions, on crustacean reproductive morphology and evolution at more than 50 national and international venues. He is a Research Associate in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, is the current Editor-in-Chief for the crustacean journal Nauplius, and is on the Editorial Board of the Iranian Journal of Animal Diversity. Tudge has recently described and named several new species of marine mud shrimp from the Gulf waters of Iran and he has a hermit crab species named for him, which he discovered as new to science on a reef in Belize.

For the Media

To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

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