Bristly Cave Crayfish
Cambarus setosus Faxon, 1889

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Fishers Cave, near Springfield, Greene Co., MO

Range

Known from 10 counties across three states in the Ozarks karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma

Counties

Missouri

Christian, Dade, Green, Greene, Jasper, Lawrence, Newton, Stone

Oklahoma

Delaware, Mayes

Karst regions

Ozarks

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 11 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 62316 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Syntype ×4

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Paratype

USNM 25828 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Collections holding material

51 cataloged lots in 7 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 51 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

NT Near Threatened na

Assessed in 2010.

NatureServe

G3 Vulnerable

Global rank last reviewed 24 June 2019.

Subnational ranks

Arkansas

S1 Critically Imperiled

Missouri

S3 Vulnerable

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

• Overcollection - Scientific
• Recreational/Commerical Cave Activities
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7RV52

GBIF

2227412

ITIS

97404

iNaturalist

96609

NCBI Taxonomy

1240932

References

• Breinholt, J.W., Porter, M.L. & Crandall, K.A. 2012. Testing phylogenetic hypotheses of the subgenera of the freshwater crayfish genus Cambarus (Decapoda: Cambaridae). PLoS One 7(9): e46105. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046105
• Faxon, W. 1914. Notes on the crayfishes in the United States National Museum and the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, with descriptions of new species and subspecies, to which is appended a catalogue of the known species and subspecies. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 40: 351–427. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pagethumb/13305306,100,100. details
• Garman, S. 1889. Cave animals from southwestern Missouri. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 17: 225–240. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4632250. details
• Harris, J.A. 1903. An ecological catalogue of the crayfishes belonging to the genus Cambarus. Kansas University Science Bulletin 2: 51–187.
• Hart, C.W., Jr. & Hobbs, H.H., Jr. 1961. Eight new troglobitic ostracods of the genus Entocythere (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from the eastern United States. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 113: 173–185. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4064545. details
• Hobbs, H.H., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1960. The origins and affinities of the troglobitic crayfishes of North America (Decapoda, Astacidae). I. The genus Cambarus. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 12–33. doi:10.2307/2422890
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1942a. A generic revision of the crayfishes of the subfamily Cambarinae (Decapoda, Astacidae) with the description of a new genus and species. The American Midland Naturalist 28: 334–357. doi:10.2307/2420820
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1942b. The Crayfishes of Florida. University of Florida Biological Science Series Volume 3, Issue 2, Gainesville, Florida, USA. 179 pp.
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1989. An illustrated checklist of the American crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidae, Cambaridae, and Parastacidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 480: 1–236. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.480
• Hobbs, H.H. Jr., Hobbs, H.H. III & Daniel, M.A. 1977. A review of the troglobitic decapod crustaceans of the Americas. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 244: 1–183.
• Lönnberg, E. 1894b. A new blind species, Cambarus acherontis Mihi. Bihang till Kongl. Svenska vetenskaps-akademiens handlingar 20: 3–14.
• Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
• Ortmann, A.E. 1905. The mutual affinities of the species of the genus Cambarus, and their dispersal over the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 44: 91–136. https://www.jstor.org/stable/983509. details
• Poulson, T.L. 1961. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 185 pp. doi:10.7302/9847
• Simon, T.P. 2011. Conservation status of North American freshwater crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the southern United States. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 120(1–2): 71–95. https://journals.indianapolis.iu.edu/index.php/ias/article/download/21024/20442/0. details
• 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

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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