North Carolina Crayfishes 125 



drains northeastern Gates, northern Pasquotank, and the northern 

 half of Camden counties; the Perquimans River of Perquimans County; 

 the Little River that rises in the Dismal Swamp in central Pasquotank 

 County and forms part of the lower Pasquotank-Perquimans county 

 line; the North River that rises in the Dismal Swamp in Currituck and 

 Camden counties; the Northwest River, which begins in Norfolk 

 County, Virginia, and flows southeast into Tull Bay, Currituck County; 

 and the North Landing River, which begins in Princess Anne County, 

 Virginia, flows south into Currituck Sound, and connects with the 

 lower James River of Virginia via the Intracoastal Waterway. All 

 these rivers except the Northwest and North Landing flow into 

 Albemarle Sound. 



South of Albemarle Sound the Pasquotank system includes the 

 north-flowing Alligator River, which drains parts of northern Hyde, 

 much of Tyrrell, and most of Dare counties; the Scuppernong River 

 that drains eastern Washington and northwestern Tyrrell counties; 

 and Phelps and New (Alligator) lakes. Both an immense system of 

 man-made drainage canals in the Dismal Swamp west of Phelps and 

 Pungo lakes, and the Intracoastal Waterway, link parts of the Pasquotank 

 basin with the Pungo River, Lake Mattamuskeet, and other parts of 

 the Tar-Pamlico basin in Beaufort and Hyde counties. 



The crayfish fauna of the Pasquotank basin consists of C. 

 diogenes, F. fodiens, and P. a. acutus. Fallicambarus fodiens has 

 been found across Croatan Sound, near Manteo on Roanoke Island, 

 Dare County. 



CRAYFISH DISTRIBUTIONS BY PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES 



Cambarus is the dominant crayfish genus in North Carolina, 

 with 18 described species (not including C. " acuminatus") and at 

 least three known but undescribed species. Nine of these species are 

 limited to the Blue Ridge, three are limited to the Piedmont 

 Plateau, and two overlap the Piedmont and Coastal Plain (one of 

 these two also may be found in all three provinces). Distributions of 

 the taxa now subsumed under Cambarus sp. C, which includes 

 C. "acuminatus" will not be clarified until this complex has been 

 diagnosed. Suffice it to say that they occur in all three physiographic 

 provinces. The sole North Carolina species of Fallicambarus is 

 primarily Coastal Plain in distribution, but also has invaded the eastern 

 Piedmont Plateau. One of the two described Orconectes in North 

 Carolina occurs only in the Blue Ridge, as does an apparently 

 undescribed member of the genus. The other described Orconectes is 

 limited to the northeastern Coastal Plain, and a second undescribed 



