A NEW ASTACOPSIS FROM NORTH 
QUEENSLAND. 
By Kathleen Watson, B.A. 
(Plate XXXIV.) 
Species of Astacopsis have been recorded as characteristic Southern 
Australian crayfishes. Therefore it was surprising to receive a spiny crayfish from 
the Cairns district, North Queensland, in July last. This was kindly forwarded 
by Dr. H. Flecker, President of the North Queensland Naturalists’ Club. The 
specimen was collected at Root’s Creek, near Mt. Carbine, in the Mt. Molloy 
district, about 80 miles west of Cairns. 
ASTACOPSIS FLECKERI sp. nov. 
Described from a single specimen. Male. Type locality : Root’s Creek, North 
Queensland. 
In its outstanding characteristics, this crayfish appears to be more closely 
allied to A. franklinii of Tasmania than to its nearest geographical congener, A. 
serratus. The species differ, however, in a complex of minor characters of armature 
and sculpturing that can best be seen by comparing the figures of the two. The 
most noticeable difference is the absence in A. fleckeri of the median suture which 
appears so prominent a feature of the carpus of the cheliped of A. franklinii. This 
is represented on the carpus of A. fleckeri only by a very slight shallowing. In A. 
fleckeri , also, the lateral keels of the rostrum are not so prominent, and each is 
provided with only three spines, which appear shorter and blunter than those in 
the figure of A. franklinii. 
The other more important differences are the development of the exopodite 
of the 3rd maxilliped, which is much longer in A. fleckeri, and the shape of the antennal 
scale. This appears relatively broader than that figured by Geoffrey Smith for A. 
franklinii, and the inner border is almost semi-circular when viewed from above. 
M easurements . — 
Maximum length from tip of rostrum to posterior border of telson, 223 mm. 
Right chela — Maximum length, 93 mm. ; maximum breadth, 38 mm. 
Left chela — Maximum length, 100 mm. ; maximum breadth, 42 mm. 
The left branchiostegite was removed and the gills examined. These show no 
marked difference from the typical characters of the genus. 
The rostrum is broad, rounded and concave; there are seven subequal, blunt 
spines around the raised border ; the anterior one is not enlarged, and is not produced 
posteriorly as a keel on the concave median surface. 
Except for minute pitting, the median portion of the carapace is smooth. 
Antero- laterally there are tubercles and small, blunt spines. The branchi- 
ostegites also bear tubercles, sparsely scattered except on the posterior portion, 
