Observations on North Carolina Crayfishes 

 (Decapoda: Cambaridae) 



John E. Cooper 



418 Wayne Drive 



Raleigh, North Carolina 27608 



AND 



Alvin L. Braswell 



North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences 



P.O. Box 29555, Raleigh, North Carolina 27626 



ABSTRACT — Cambarus {Tubericambarus) acanthura, Orconectes 

 (Procericambarus) spinosus, and an apparently undescribed species 

 of Orconectes (O. sp. B), are reported for the first time from 

 North Carolina. Six additional specimens of Orconectes (Crockerinus) 

 virginiensis are reported from the Chowan and Roanoke basins, 

 and its range in North Carolina is clarified. Orconectes (C.) 

 erichsonianus, for which a North Carolina locality has been 

 published, is deleted from the State list. Cambarus {Jugicambarus) 

 asperimanus is reported from the Watauga and New rivers in 

 Watauga County, and localities are provided that expand its 

 known range in the Piedmont Plateau. New locality data, distributional 

 clarifications, or natural history notes are provided for Cambarus 

 (Depressicambarus) latimanus, C (D) reduncus, Cambarus {Jugicambarus) 

 carolinus, C (J) dubius, C. (/.) nodosus, Cambarus (Puncticambarus) 

 georgiae, C (P.) parrishi, C. (P) reburrus, Procambarus (Ortmannicus) 

 medialis, P. (O.) pearsei, and P. (O.) plumimanus. A blue 

 specimen of C. latimanus is reported from the Neuse River 

 basin. The North Carolina crayfish fauna is correlated with 

 the State's major river basins and physiographic provinces. 



Thanks largely to the efforts of the late Horton H. Hobbs, Jr., 

 U. S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 

 with whom the modern era in crayfish studies essentially began, the 

 composition of the crayfish fauna of North Carolina is relatively well 

 known. As indicated in his most recent checklist of the American 

 crayfishes (Hobbs 1989:89), the North Carolina fauna consists of 27 

 described native species, a putative subspecies of one of them, and 

 one introduced species. Hobbs, sometimes with coworkers, described 

 one of the four genera, six of the 11 native subgenera, and 11 of the 

 27 native species known to occur in the State at the time of his 

 checklist. 



Brimleyana 22:87-132, June 1995 87 



