North Carolina Crayfishes 95 



At the Watauga River locality, the only other crayfish collected 

 was Cambarus (Puncticambarus) robustus Girard, all specimens of 

 which were taken from the river itself. At the New River locality, the 

 orangish-tan C. asperimanus were "associated" with cobalt blue C. 

 dubius. The two species were dug from burrows within a few meters 

 of each other, but their habitats differed. The C. asperimanus that 

 came from burrows were in simple, shallow burrows at or just above 

 water level along the banks of the creek, while the C. dubius were 

 dug from more complex burrows in a mucky seepage area near the 

 same creek. Some C. asperimanus were found under rocks in the 

 creek, but no C. dubius were in this habitat, and no C. asperimanus 

 were dug from the seep. 



The limits of the range of C. asperimanus east of the Blue Ridge 

 escarpment in North Carolina are not yet clear, but we made a number 

 of collections of the species at the base of the eastern foothills and 

 in the Piedmont as far east as western Catawba County. Hobbs and 

 Peters (1977:57) first recorded the species in this area, from a locality 

 in the upper Catawba basin in northwestern Burke County. Our 

 collections at the following new localities extend the range of C. 

 asperimanus farther east in the Catawba basin, and south and east 

 into the Broad River basin. 



CATAWBA RIVER BASIN. Burke Co.— (1) Jacob Fk nr office 

 South Mountain State Park, 3.4 air mi (5.4 air km) SW Pleasant 

 Grove; 1 S I, 3 S II, 1 j S, 4 9 (NCSM C-2281), 23 Apr 1985; (2) 

 Laurel Crk along NC 18, 2.0 rd mi (3.2 rd km) ESE jet SR 1929, 3.2 

 air mi (5.1 air km) N Pleasant Grove; 2 S I, 5 jS, 6 j 9 (NCSM C- 

 2286), 1 ovig 9 (NCSM C-2309), 26 Apr 1985. Catawba Co.— (3) 

 small stream (trib Henry Fk) along I 40 at milepost 120 near Burke 

 Co line, ca. 4.0 air mi (6.4 air km) SW cntr Hickory; IS II, 3 j S, 1 

 9, 1 j 9 (NCSM C-1257), 12 Apr 1983. McDowell Co.— (4) trib 

 Swannanoa Crk along SR 1400, 1.3 rd mi (2.1 rd km) W jet E end 

 SR 1407, 2.1 air mi (3.4 air km) WNW cntr Old Fort; 2 S I, 2 S II, 1 

 j 6 (NCSM C-807), 20 Aug 1977; (5) trib Catawba R along US 70, 

 3.1 mi (5.0 km) E Buncombe Co line, 2.3 air mi (3.7 air km) WSW 

 cntr Old Fort; 2 9 (NCSM C-949), 24 Nov 1978, with D. L. Stephan; 

 (6) small cascading stream (trib Swannanoa Crk) along SR 1407, ca. 

 0.4 rd mi (0.6 rd km) NE Buncombe Co line, ca. 5.0 air mi (8.0 air 

 km) W cntr Old Fort; 1 j 6,3 9, 1 j 9 (NCSM C-1251), 12 Apr 

 1983; (7) Long Br (trib Mill Crk) along SR 1407, 0.4 rd mi (0.6 rd 

 km) S railroad crossing, 1.5 air mi (2.4 air km) SE Graphite & 3.2 

 air mi (5.1 air km) WNW cntr Old Fort; IS II, 1 j 9 (NCSM 

 C-1258), 12 Apr 1983; (8) Buck Crk at NC 80 bridge, 0.4 rd mi 



