Packard's Cave Amphipod
Crangonyx packardi Smith, 1888
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Crustacea |
| Class | Malacostraca |
| Order | Amphipoda |
| Family | Crangonyctidae |
| Genus | Crangonyx |
| Species | Crangonyx packardi Smith, 1888 |
Synonyms
- Eucrangonyx packardi Stebbing, 1899 (prior combination, CoL)
- Crangonyx gracilis packardi Hubricht, 1943 (subjective synonym, CoL)
Description
Diagnostic characters
- Ecological class
- Stygobiont
- Realm
- Aquatic
- Troglomorphy
- Troglomorphic
Distribution
Type locality
Well at Orleans, Orange Co. IN
Range
Known from 44 counties across five states across three karst regions.
Continent
North America
Country
United States
States and provinces
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri
Counties
- Illinois
- Hardin, Johnson, Pike, Saline, Union
- Indiana
- Clark, Crawford, Decatur, Green, Greene, Harrison, Jefferson, Jennings, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, Washington
- Kansas
- Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Franklin, Johnson, Marion, Miami, Pottawatomie, Riley, Wilson
- Kentucky
- Barren, Caldwell, Crittenden, Edmonson, Estill, Hart, Menifee, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Simpson
- Missouri
- Benton, Boone, Camden, Cass, Jackson
Karst regions
Interior Low Plateau, Other, Ozarks
Specimens
Collections holding material
| Institution | Lots |
|---|---|
| National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution | 93 |
| Illinois Natural History Survey | 10 |
103 cataloged lots in 2 collections. Compiled from GBIF and not an exhaustive census: many collections are not yet digitised, and holdings are added continually. Search GBIF for specimen records.
Download all 103 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.
Conservation and management
NatureServe
G4 Apparently Secure
Global rank last reviewed 22 January 2009.
Subnational ranks
- Illinois
- S1 Critically Imperiled
- Indiana
- S3 Vulnerable
- Kansas
- SNR Unranked
- Kentucky
- S4S5 Apparently Secure to Secure
- Missouri
- SNR Unranked
Ranks looked up 23 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.
State and federal status
Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Other resources
References
- Banta, A.M. 1907. The fauna of Mayfield's Cave. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 67: 1–114. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60987. details
- Cooper, J.E. & Beiter, D.P. 1972. The southern cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Pisces: Amblyopsidae), in the Mississippian Plateau of Kentucky. Copeia 1972: 879–881.
- Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1979. Caves and associated fauna of Eastern Kentucky, Volume 3. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 130 pp.
- Hubricht, L. 1943. Studies in the Nearctic freshwater amphipods, III. Notes on the freshwater Amphipoda of eastern United States, with descriptions of ten new species. The American Midland Naturalist 29: 683–712. doi:10.2307/2421157
- Lewis, J.J. 1988. The systematics, zoogeography and life history of the troglobitic isopods of the Interior Plateaus of the eastern United States. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. 281 pp.
- Lewis, J.J. & Bowman, T.E. 1981. The subterranean asellids (Caecidotea) of Illinois (Crustacea: Isopoda: Asellidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 335: 1–66. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.335
- Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
- Reid, J.W. 2004. New records and new species of the genus Diacyclops (Crustacea: Copepoda) from subterranean habitats in southern Indiana, USA. Jeffersoniana 12: 1–65.
- Webb, D.W., Taylor, S.J. & Krejca, J.K. 1993. The biological resources of Illinois caves and other subterranean environments. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA. 143 pp.
- Zhang, J. & Holsinger, J.R. 2003. Systematics of the freshwater amphipod genus Crangonyx (Crangonyctidae) in North America. Virginia Museum of Natural History Memior 6: 1–274.
This account was last revised 28 August 2026. Conservation ranks were looked up 23 August 2026.
How to cite this account
Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.
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