Prof Judith Charmaine Masters is currently employed as Professor of Zoology at the University of Fort Hare, Alice Campus, South Africa.
Her Speciality over the last 40 years has concerned species concepts, speciation processes and biogeography, with a focus on the evolution of the strepsirrhine primates of the Afro-tropic region. She has investigated species identity using morphometric, genetic and behavioral means (chiefly, signals used in specific-mate recognition), and characteristics of species' preferred habitats.
Further, Prof Masters has studied strepsirrhine phylogenies using both genetic and morphological datasets and investigated the scenarios indicated by these reconstructions. One of the major puzzles in strepsirrhine biogeography concerns the colonization of Madagascar by vertebrates.
She has Published several Papers relating to this conundrum. Prof Masters and her students continue to investigate primate diversity on the African and Malagasy landmasses and the role of natural selection in this diversification.
