Pallid Cave Crayfish
Procambarus pallidus (Hobbs, 1940)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

53 mm

Distribution

Range

Known from 13 counties across two states in the Florida Lime Sinks karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Florida, Georgia

Counties

Florida

Alachua, Columbia, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Madison, Marion, Putnam, Suwanee, Suwannee

Georgia

Brooks

Karst regions

Florida Lime Sinks

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 5 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Paratype

CRU-10292 · Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Paratype ×7

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Type

USNM 76591 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Collections holding material

84 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 84 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

G1G2 Critically Imperiled to Imperiled

Global rank last reviewed 21 March 2023.

Subnational ranks

Florida

S2S3 Imperiled to Vulnerable

Georgia

S1 Critically 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

• Urbanization - Comm. & Industrial
• Recreational/Commerical Cave Activities
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Commercial/Industrial
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry
• Climate Change-Sea Level Rise

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7WLWM

GBIF

2227154

ITIS

97547

iNaturalist

110507

NCBI Taxonomy

1937905

References

• Chace & F.A. Jr. 1954. Two new subterranean shrimps (Decapoda: Caridea) from Florida and the West Indies, with a revised key to the American species. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 44: 318–324. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24533251. details
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 1997a. New troglobitic crayfish of the genus Orconectes, subgenus Orconectes (Decapoda: Cambaridae), endemic to Shelta Cave, Huntsville, Alabama. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 59: 119–127.
• 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
• Doonan, T.J. 2001. Survey of Squirrel Chimney and other selected caves to determine the status of Squirrel Chimney Cave Shrimp (Palaemonetes cummingi). Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. 44 pp.
• Franz, R. 1992r. Pallid Cave Crayfish Procambarus (Ortmannicus) pallidus (Hobbs). In: Deyrup, M. & Franz, R. (eds), Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume IV. Invertebrates, pp. 209–211. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
• Franz, R. 1992e. Squirrel Chimney Cave Shrimp Palaemonetes cummingi Chace. In: Deyrup, M. & Franz, R. (eds), Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume IV. Invertebrates, pp. 181–182. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
• Franz, R. 1994. Squirrel Chimney Cave Shrimp survey. Report prepared for Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. 4 pp.
• Franz, R., Bauer, J. & Morris, T. 1994. Review of biologically significant caves and their faunas in Florida and south Georgia. Brimleyana 20: 1–109. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/229726. details
• Franz, R. & Franz, S.E. 1990. A review of the Florida crayfish fauna, with comments on nomenclature, distribution, and conservation. Florida Scientist 53: 286–296. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24320400. details
• Franz, R. & Lee, D.S. 1982. Distribution and evolution of Florida's troglobitic crayfishes. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 28: 53–78.
• Gannon, A.T., Demarco, V.G., Morris, T., Wheatly, M.G., Kao & Y-H. 1999. Oxygen uptake, critical oxygen tension, and available oxygen for three species of cave crayfishes. Journal of Crustacean Biology 19: 235–243. doi:10.2307/1549229
• Hale, J.A. & Streever, W.J. 1994. Cave fauna distribution within fully-flooded cave systems in Florida. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 9: 171–174. doi:10.1080/02705060.1994.9664883
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1937. Two new crawfishes from Florida: Cambarus hubbelli Cambarus acherontis pallidus. Proceedings of the Florida Academy of Sciences 2: 90–91. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24315611. details
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1940. Seven new crayfishes of the genus Cambarus from Florida, with notes on other species. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 89: 387–423. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.89-3097.387
• 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. 1971. A new troglobitic crayfish from Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 34: 114–124. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24318041. details
• 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.
• Marshall, N. 1947. The spring run and cave habitats of Erimystax harperi (Fowler). Ecology 28: 68–75. doi:10.2307/1932919
• Morris, T.L. 2006. A biological inventory of aquifer caves in Florida with special emphasis on troglobitic crustaceans and salamanders. Final report S0057 to Florida Department of Environmental Regulation. Karst Environmental Services, Inc., High Springs, Florida, USA. 44 pp.
• Morris, T. & Butt, P.L. 1992. A survey of the population of the Florida cave shrimp (Palaemonetes cummingi), other species, and the condition of the environment within the Squirrel Chimney Cave system, Alachua County, Florida. Report prepared for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Karst Environmental Services, Inc., High Springs, Florida, USA. 10 pp.
• Morris, T. & Butt, P.L. 1994. A re-survey of the population of the Squirrel Chimney (Florida) cave shrimp (Palaemonetes cummingi), other species, and the condition of the environment within the Squirrel Chimney Cave system, Alachua County, Florida. Report prepared for Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. Karst Environmental Services, Inc., High Springs, Florida, USA. 12 pp.
• Morris, T. & Butt, P.L. 1996. Status and distribution of the Florida Cave Shrimp (Palaemonetes cummingi) and other species in Herzog Cave, Alachua County, FL.; May, 1996 survey. Report prepared for Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. Karst Environmental Services, Inc., High Springs, Florida, USA. 15 pp.
• Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
• Poucher, S. 2011. A Field Guide to the Critters of Florida's Springs. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama, USA. 124 pp. ISBN 978–1-879961–42–5.
• Poucher, S. 2022. Wildlife of Florida's Springs. An Illustrated Guide to over 150 Species. Pineapple Press, Palm Beach, Florida, USA. 196 pp. ISBN 9780000000000.
• Relyea, K. & Sutton, B. 1973b. Egg-bearing in the troglobitic crayfish, Procambarus pallidus (Hobbs). Florida Scientist 36: 173–175. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24319455. details
• 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
• Sisco, J.M. & Sawicki, T.R. 2023. Molecular and morphological analyses reveal a new hypogean species of amphipod in the genus Crangonyx Bate, 1859 (Crustacea: Crangonyctidae) within the floridanus species complex, from Suwannee County, Florida. Journal of Natural History 57: 21–24. doi:10.1080/00222933.2023.2247155
• Skelton, C.E. 2019a. Procambarus pallidus (Hobbs, 1940) Pallid Cave Crayfish. Georgia Biodiversity Portal, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=animals&es_id=374262. 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
• Streever, W.J. 1992a. Report of a cave fauna kill at Peacock Springs Cave System, Suwannee County, Florida. Florida Scientist 55: 125–128. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24320493. details
• Streever, W.J. 1995. Recovery of the cave crayfish (Decapoda: Cambridae) population in Peacock Springs, Florida?. Brimleyana 22: 61–65. https://archive.org/download/biostor-217805/biostor-217805.pdf. details
• Tennessee Cave Survey. 2005. Biological records from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia caves. Tennessee Cave Survey.
• Walsh, S.J. 2000. Conservation of aquatic karst biotas: shedding light on troubled waters. In: Abell, R.A. (ed), Freshwater Ecoregions of North America: A Conservation Assessment, pp. 106–108. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA.
• Walsh, S.J. 2001. Freshwater macrofauna of Florida karst habitats. Proceedings of the 2001 U.S. Geological Survey Karst Interest Group, USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 01–4011: 78–88. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_talks/101/. details
• Walton, M., Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1959. Two eyeless ostracods of the genus Entocythere from Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 22: 114–120. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24314687. details
• Warren, R.D. 1961. The obligate cavernicoles of Florida. Special Papers of the Florida Speleological Society 1: 1–10.

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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