A new species of crab named Areopaguristes tudgei has been discovered by Christopher Tudge, a biology professor at American University in Washington, D.C. off the coast of Belize, says a Science Daily report.
Tudge has spent most of his life exploring and discovering different and unique specimens from all around the world. His latest achievement is the discovery of a new species of crab on the barrier reef off the coast of Belize.
"So you can take 40 steps off the island and you're on the edge of the reef, and then the back part of the reef is what they call the lagoon," Tudge said in a report by Science Daily. "You slowly walk out into ever-increasing depths of water and it's a mixture of sand and sea grass and bits of coral, and then there's some channels. There's lots of different habitats there. Some islands are covered by mangroves. So we would visit all the different habitats that were there.
"We would collect on the reef crest, go and turn over coral boulders on the reef flat, snorkel over the sea grass beds. We pumped sand and mud to get things out of the ground. We walked into the mangroves and collected crustaceans from under the mangrove roots. We even snorkeled in the channels in the mangrove islands," he said.
The new species of crab has been named Areopaguristes tudgei, which is the first time the professor has had a species named after him. Prior to this, even though Tudge has been instrumental in the discovery of many other species, none have been named after him.
In a report published in Science Daily, the professor said the science and discovery world works in a unique fashion. There are no prior warnings or signs that someone may strike lucky or unlucky with a discovery. It just happens.
"You go through several emotions when a species has been named after you," Tudge said. "It is truly an honor, in the most formal sense of the term, that your colleagues have thought of naming a species after you. It is a very special type of recognition of your contribution to your research field by your colleagues."
