Phantom Cave Crayfish
Cambarus pecki (Hobbs, 1967)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

24.5 mm

Distribution

Type locality

McKinney Pit Cave, Colbert Co. AL

Range

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

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama

Counties

Alabama

Colbert, Lauderdale, Morgan

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 10 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 117684 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Allotype

USNM 117685 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype

CRU-13295 · Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Paratype ×6

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Collections holding material

16 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 16 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

EN Endangered B1ab(iii)

Assessed in 2010.

NatureServe

G1G2 Critically Imperiled to Imperiled

Global rank last reviewed 17 May 2010.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S1S2 Critically Imperiled to 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
• Agriculture - Crops
• Climate Change - Precip

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7RV43

GBIF

5789987

ITIS

1133635

iNaturalist

96598

NCBI Taxonomy

1240923

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. 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
• Caine, E.A. 1974a. Zoogeography of the Floridian troglobitic crayfishes, genus Procambarus. The American Midland Naturalist 92: 487–492. doi:10.2307/2424314
• 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. 1968. Cave-associated herpetozoa II: salamanders of the genus Gyrinophilus in Alabama caves. National Speleological Society Bulletin 30: 19–24.
• Cooper, J.E. & Kuehne, R.A. 1974. Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, a new genus and species of subterranean fish from Alabama. Copeia 1974: 486–493.
• 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 & 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Kuhajda, B.R. & Fluker, B.L. 2010. Status of the endangered Alabama Cavefish Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. 16 pp.
• 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
• 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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