Alabama Cave Crayfish
Cambarus jonesi Hobbs & Barr, 1960

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

27.2 mm

Distribution

Type locality

Cave Spring Cave, Morgan Co. AL

Range

Known from six counties in Alabama in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama

Counties

Alabama

Colbert, Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 36 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 104407 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Allotype

USNM 104408 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype ×2

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Topotype ×2

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Collections holding material

70 cataloged lots in 5 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 70 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

VU Vulnerable B1ab(iii)

Assessed in 2010.

NatureServe

G2 Imperiled

Global rank last reviewed 1 July 2009.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

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

• Urbanization - Residential
• Urbanization - Comm. & Industrial
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Commercial/Industrial
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7RTZT

GBIF

2227341

ITIS

97379

iNaturalist

96580

NCBI Taxonomy

375935

References

• 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. & Crandall, K.A. 2008. Taxonomic revision of cave crayfishes in the genus Orconectes, subgenus Orconectes (Decapoda: Cambaridae) along the Cumberland Plateau, including a description of a new species, Orconectes barri. Journal of Crustacean Biology 28: 57–67.
• Buhay, J.E. & Crandall, K.A. 2009. Taxonomic revision of cave crayfish in the genus Cambarus, subgenus Aviticambarus (Decapoda: Cambaridae) with descriptions of two new species, C. speleocoopi and C.laconensis, endemic to Alabama, U.S.A. Journal of Crustacean Biology 29(1): 121–134. doi:10.1651/08-3089.1
• 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
• Cobb, R.M. 1985. A reconnaissance of caves in Lauderdale and Colbert counties, Alabama for the Alabama cavefish, Speleoplatyrhinus poulsoni. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 28 pp.
• Cobb, R.M. 1986. An attempt to collect specimens of cavefish at three cave sites in northwest Alabama. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 9 pp.
• Cooper, J.E. 1966. Preliminary observation on the biology of Shelta Cave, Alabama. Bulletin of the National Speleological Society 28: 96–97.
• Cooper, J.E. 1967. Animals in Alabama caves. In: Veitch, J. (ed), The Caves of Alabama: A Guide for the 1967 Convention of the National Speleological Society, pp. 14–16. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
• Cooper, J.E. 1968b. Shelta Cave, a biological marvel. National Speleological Society News 26: 33–35.
• 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.
• 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.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 1997b. A new species of troglobitic crayfish of the genus Cambarus, subgenus Aviticambarus (Decapoda: Cambaridae), endemic to White Spring Cave, Alabama. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 110: 608–616. https://research.nhm.org/pdfs/32048/32048.pdf. details
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2009. Long-term mark-recapture studies of population sizes in the stygobiotic crayfishes (Decapoda: Cambaridae) of Shelta Cave, Alabama, USA. Subterranean Biology 7: 35–40.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2011. Observations on the biology of the endangered stygobiotic shrimp Palaemonias alabamae, with notes on P. ganteri (Decapoda: Atyidae). Subterranean Biology 8: 9–20.
• Cooper, J.E. & Kuehne, R.A. 1974. Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, a new genus and species of subterranean fish from Alabama. Copeia 1974: 486–493.
• Dooley, K.E., Niemiller, K.D.K., Sturm, N. & Niemiller, M.L. 2022. Rediscovery and phylogenetic analysis of the Shelta Cave Crayfish (Orconectes sheltae Cooper & Cooper, 1997), a decapod (Decapoda, Cambaridae) endemic to Shelta Cave in northern Alabama, USA. Subterranean Biology 43: 11–31. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.43.79993
• Engel, A.S. & Niemiller, M.L. 2024. The Southern Cumberland Plateau. In: Weaver, A. (ed), 2024 NSS Convention Guidebook: TAG Tour 2024, pp. 24–30. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
• 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.
• Hobbs, III., H.H. & Bagley, F.M. 1989. Shelta Cave management plan. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. 78 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. 1967. A new crayfish from Alabama caves with notes on the origin of genera Orconectes and Cambarus (Decapoda: Astacidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 123: 1–17.
• 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.
• Huryn, A.D. 2017f. Alabama Cave Crayfish Cambarus jonesi Hobbs and Barr. In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, pp. 109–110. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Huryn, A.D. 2017b. Shelta Cave Crayfish Orconectes sheltae Cooper and Cooper. In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, pp. 101–102. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Huryn, A.D. 2017c. Phantom Cave Crayfish Cambarus pecki Hobbs. In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, pp. 99–100. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Huryn, A.D. 2017d. White Spring Cave Crayfish Cambarus veitchorum Cooper and Cooper. In: Shelton-Nix, E. (ed), Alabama Wildlife, Volume 5, p. 100. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.
• Kuhajda, B.R. & Fluker, B.L. 2010. Status of the endangered Alabama Cavefish Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 16 pp.
• 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., Anderson, C.L., Maxwell, E.C., Midgette, H., Quering, C., Richards, M., Wilson, K. & Wirwa, N. 2025b. A noteworthy range extension of the federally endangered Alabama Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae) south of the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. Southeastern Naturalist 24: N47-N58. doi:10.1656/058.024.0403
• Poulson, T.L. 1961. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 185 pp. doi:10.7302/9847
• 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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