Journal of Cave and Karst Studies - ISSN 0146-9517
Volume 59 Number 3: 119-127 -December 1997

A publication of the National Speleological Society

New Troglobitic Crayfish of the Genus Orconectes, Subgenus Orconectes (Decapoda: Cambaridae), Endemic to Shelta Cave, Huntsville, Alabama
John E. Cooper & Martha Riser Cooper

Abstract

Orconectes (Orconectes) sheltae is a new species of troglobitic crayfish endemic to Shelta Cave, Huntsville, Alabama, where it is the smallest and rarest member of a subterranean crayfish triad that includes O. (O.) a. australis and Cambarus (A.) jonesi. The new species may be distinguished from all other members of the subgenus by a combination of: (1) the absence of first pleopods in the female, (2) a broad median trough in the annulus, (3) the narrow, elongate chela of the cheliped, with its very long palm and subvertical orientation, (4) the length, conformation, and orientation of the terminal elements of the form I male gonopod (first pleopod), and (5) the lack of prominent spines on the mesial margin of the carpus. The mature oocytes of O. sheltae are large and few (8-12), and the young at recruitment may be larger than those of O. a. australis and C. jonesi.

This page last updated: 7 May, 2003 18:50
Web Author: Jim Pisarowicz