Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish
Cambarus cryptodytes Hobbs, 1941

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

53 mm

Distribution

Type locality

A well, 2 mi S of Graceville, Jackson Co. FL

Range

Known from 11 counties across two states in the Florida Lime Sinks karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Florida, Georgia

Counties

Florida

Calhoun, Jackson, Washington

Georgia

Baker, Calhoun, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole

Karst regions

Florida Lime Sinks

Genetics

Molecular resources

6 sequences, retrieved 23 August 2026. Counts change as sequences are deposited. Search GenBank.

Download all 6 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 79339 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Allotype

USNM 79340 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype

CRU-12220 · Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Paratype ×4

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Collections holding material

47 cataloged lots in 4 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 47 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

LC Least Concern na

Assessed in 2010.

NatureServe

G2G3 Imperiled to Vulnerable

Global rank last reviewed 18 January 2018.

Subnational ranks

Florida

S2 Imperiled

Georgia

S2 Imperiled

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.

Threats

• Recreational/Commerical Cave Activities
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7RTXM

GBIF

2227320

ITIS

97358

iNaturalist

96550

NCBI Taxonomy

341240

References

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• Brock, K.A. & Bortone, S.A. 1977. Cave dwelling fishes in panhandle Florida. Florida Scientist 40: 406–407. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24320078. details
• Caine, E.A. 1974b. Adaptations to species-specific habitats by epigean and troglobitic crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidae). Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. 85 pp.
• Caine, E.A. 1978. Comparative ecology of epigean and hypogean crayfish (Crustacea: Cambaridae) from northwestern Florida. The American Midland Naturalist 99: 315–329. doi:10.2307/2424809
• Cannizzaro, A.G., Balding, D., Stine, M. & Sawicki, T.R. 2019b. A new syntopic species of Stygobromus Cope, 1872 (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) from groundwaters in Georgia and Florida, USA, with notes on S. floridanus Holsinger & Sawicki, 2016. Journal of Crustacean Biology 39: 407–418. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruz034
• Culver, D.C. & Hobbs, III, H.H. 2002. Patterns of species richness in the Florida stygobitic fauna. Hydrogeology and Biology of Post-Palaeozoic Carbonate Aquifers. Proceedings of the Symposium Karst Frontiers: Florida and Related Environments: 60–63. https://karstwaters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SP7-Florida-PostPaleozoic-carbonate-aquifers.pdf. details
• Franz, R. 1992t. Apalachicola Cave Crayfish Cambarus (Jugicambarus) cryptodytes Hobbs. In: Deyrup, M. & Franz, R. (eds), Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume IV. Invertebrates, pp. 216–218. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
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• Stern, D.B., Breinholt, J., Pedraza-Lara, C., Lopez-Mejia, M., Owen, C.L., Bracken-Grissom, H., Fetzner, J.W., Jr. & Crandall, K.A. 2017. Phylogenetic evidence from freshwater crayfishes that cave adaptation is not an evolutionary dead-end. Evolution 71(10): 2522–2532. doi:10.1111/evo.13326
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• Warren, R.D. 1961. The obligate cavernicoles of Florida. Special Papers of the Florida Speleological Society 1: 1–10.
• Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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