18 
FRESHWATER AND LAND CRAYFISHES OF AUSTRALIA 
Carapace twice as long as broad, broader than high, somewhat shorter 
than abdomen. Branchiostegitcs studded with numerous small tubercles. 
First abdominal somite with a long sharp spine on lateral lobes; second 
with four or five sharp spines on lateral margins ; remaining somites each 
with one spine on lateral margin. No other spines or prominences on 
abdomen. 
Telson longer than broad, almost completely divided at posterior third by 
a transverse suture, posterior third membranous; a small spine on each 
lateral margin at suture, without other median or lateral spines. Inner rami 
of uropods with obsolete median carina ending in a small blunt spine almost 
on posterior margin, a small blunt spine at posterior third of outer margin. 
Outer rami each with numerous small spines along transverse suture. Lobes 
at base of uropods smooth. 
Sternal keel moderately sharp ; first pair of lateral processes small and 
round, increasing in size and sharpness to posterior pair, these large and 
deeply grooved. 
Great chelae stout, propodus more than twice as long as broad, upper 
margin with four small blunt spines, cutting edge of propodus with one 
large and three or four small tubercles on cutting edge, upper margin smooth 
or with one or two small tubercles. Carpus with four or five sharp spines 
along upper margin, upper surface flat ; merus with four or five small spines 
on upper margin. 
Habitat. — North Queensland: Root’s Creek (type locality); Mossman 
River and its tributaries. 
Type in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. 
Readily separated from E. nobilis, which it somewhat 
resembles, hy the absence of spines or tubercles from the 
dorsum of the abdominal somites, the absence of spines on 
the telson and uropods, and by the form of the carpus. 
Redescribed from three specimens, two females and one male, 
received from the authorities of the Queensland Museum. 
The species was described from a single specimen stated 
to he a male. An examination, however, shows the specimen 
to be a female. Flecker (1936), dealing with the habits and 
haunt of the species, also alludes to the type as a male. 
Genus CHERAX Erichson.* 
Astacus ( Chcrax ) Erichson, Arch. f. Naturg., xii, pp. 88-89, 1846. 
Astacus ( Cheraps ) Erichson, l.c., p. 101. 
Astacus Gray, Eyre’s Journ. Expect Disc. Cent. Austrl., i (Appendix), 
1845, p. 410; von Martens, Monats. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1868, 
p. 164. 
Astacoides Hess, Arch. f. Naturg., xxxi, 1865, p. 164; McCoy, Prod. 
Zool. Victoria, i, Dec. 3, 1879, p. 45. 
Astacopsis Haswell, Cat. Austrl. Mus., Crust., p. 177, 1882; Spencer 
and Hall, Rep. Horn Expect Centr. Austrl., pt. ii, Zoot, p. 244, 1896. 
Chaeraps Huxley, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1878, p. 769; Smith, Proc. 
Zoot Soc. Lond., 1912, p. 165. 
♦For notes on the generic definition of Cherax see page 50. 
