Prickly Cave Crayfish
Cambarus hamulatus (Cope & Packard, 1881)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Nickajack Cave, Marion Co. TN

Range

Known from nine counties across three states in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama

Blount, Jackson, Marshall

Kentucky

Marion

Tennessee

Bledsoe, Cumberland, Franklin, Marion, Sequatchie

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 58 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Syntype

CRU-3678 · Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Collections holding material

46 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 46 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

G3G4 Vulnerable to Apparently Secure

Global rank last reviewed 1 July 2009.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S2 Imperiled

Tennessee

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

• Dams & Water Extraction

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7RTZ2

GBIF

2227359

ITIS

97373

iNaturalist

96570

NCBI Taxonomy

375934

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
• Bouchard, R.W. 1976. Crayfishes and shrimps. In: Boshung, H. (ed), Endangered and threatened plants and animals of Alabama. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 2, pp. 13–20. Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• 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
• Buhay, J.E., Moni, G., Mann, N. & Crandall, K.A. 2007. Molecular taxonomy in the dark: evolutionary history, phylogeography, and diversity of cave crayfish in the subgenus Aviticambarus, genus Cambarus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42(2): 435–448. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.07.014
• Coleman, W.T. & Zigler, K.S. 2015. The rediscovery of Caecidotea nickajackensis in Tennessee and Alabama. Speleolobiology Notes 7: 10–13.
• Cooper, J.E. 1968a. The salamander Gyrinophilus palleucus in Georgia, with notes on Alabama and Tennessee population. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science 39: 182–185. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54954393. details
• Cooper, J.E. 1975. Ecological and behavioral studies in Shelta Cave, Alabama, with emphasis on decapod crustaceans. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. 364 pp.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 1966. Comments on Alabama cave biology. Huntsville Grotto Newsletter 7: 37–41.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 1968. Cave-associated herpetozoa II: salamanders of the genus Gyrinophilus in Alabama caves. National Speleological Society Bulletin 30: 19–24.
• Cope, E.D. & Packard, A.S. 1881. The fauna of the Nickajack Cave. American Naturalist 15: 877–882.
• 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
• Godwin, J.C. 2000. Reassessment of the historical and search for new localities of the Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus) in Alabama. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Montgomery, Alabama, USA. 15 pp.
• Harris, J.A. 1903. An ecological catalogue of the crayfishes belonging to the genus Cambarus. Kansas University Science Bulletin 2: 51–187.
• Hay, W.P. 1902a. Observations on the crustacean fauna of Nickajack Cave, Tennessee, and vicinity. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 25: 417–439. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.25-1292.417
• Hobbs, III., H.H. 1994. Assessment of the ecological resources of the caves of Russell Cave National Monument, Jackson County, Alabama and of selected caves at the Lookout Mountain Unit of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Dade County, Georgia and Hamilton County, Tennessee. 200 pp.
• 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. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1972. Origins and affinities of the troglobitic crayfishes of North America (Decapoda: Astacidae) II. Genus Orconectes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 105: 1–84. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.105
• 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.
• Holsinger, J.R. 1966. Some comments on "troglobites of Alabama - excluding beetles". Huntsville Grotto Newsletter 7: 22–23.
• Holt, P.C. 1973. Branchiobdellids (Annelida: Clitellata) from some eastern North American caves, with descriptions of new species of the genus Cambarincola. International Journal of Speleology 5: 219–256.
• Huntsman, B.M., Venarsky, M.P., Benstead, J.P. & Huryn, A.D. 2011a. Effects of organic matter availability on the life history and production of a top vertebrate predator (Plethodontidae: Gyrinophilus palleucus) in two cave streams. Freshwater Biology 56: 1746–1760.
• Huryn, A.D. 2017e. Prickly Cave Crayfish Cambarus hamulatus (Cope). In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, pp. 107–108. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Lewis, J.J. 2005a. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
• Lönnberg, E. 1894b. A new blind species, Cambarus acherontis Mihi. Bihang till Kongl. Svenska vetenskaps-akademiens handlingar 20: 3–14.
• Lönnberg, E. 1894a. Cambarids from Florida, a new blind species. Zoologischer Anzeiger 17: 125–127.
• McGregor, S.W., O'Neil, P.E., Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1997. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 166: 1–198.
• McGregor, S.W., Rheams, K.F., O'Neil, P.E., Moser, P.H. & Blackwood, R. 1994. Biological, geological, and hydrological investigations in Bobcat, Matthews, and Shelta caves and other selected caves in north Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 226 pp.
• Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
• Niemiller, M.L., Fenolio, D.B. & Zigler, K.S. 2012b. The obligate cave fauna of Georgia. Bulletin of the Georgia Speleological Survey 2012: 6–12.
• Niemiller, M.L. & Zigler, K.S. 2013. Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and Interior Plateau of Tennessee, USA. PLOS One 8: e64177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064177
• 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
• Rhoades, R. 1941. Notes on some crayfishes from Alabama caves, with the description of a new species and a new subspecies. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 91: 141–148. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.91-3129.141
• Schuster, G.A., Taylor, C.A. & McGregor, S.W. 2022. Crayfishes of Alabama. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 496 pp.
• 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
• Tennessee Cave Survey. 2005. Biological records from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia caves. Tennessee Cave Survey.

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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