Southern Cave Crayfish
Orconectes australis (Rhoades, 1941)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

23.6 mm

Distribution

Type locality

Shelta Cave, Madison Co. AL

Range

Known from 15 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

Jackson, Madison, Marshall

Kentucky

Edmonson, Pulaski

Tennessee

Coffee, Fentress, Franklin, Grundy, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Van Buren, Warren, White

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 152 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 79363 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Allotype

USNM 79364 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype ×2

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Topotype

4535 · North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Collections holding material

158 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 158 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

G5 Secure

Global rank last reviewed 1 July 2009.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S3 Vulnerable

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

• Urbanization - Residential
• Urbanization - Comm. & Industrial

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7W5X4

GBIF

2227017

ITIS

97428

iNaturalist

107749

NCBI Taxonomy

61490

References

• Barr, T.C., Jr. 1959a. New cave beetles (Carabidae, Trechini) from Tennessee and Kentucky. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 34: 5–30.
• Buhay, J.E. & Crandall, K.A. 2005. Subterranean phylogeography of freshwater crayfishes shows extensive gene flow and surprisingly large population sizes. Molecular Ecology 14: 4259–4273.
• 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
• 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. 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. 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.
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• 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
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• 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. 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
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• 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.
• Huntsman, B.M., Venarsky, M.P. & Benstead, J.P. 2011b. Relating carrion breakdown rates to ambient resource level and community structure in four cave stream ecosystems. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 30: 882–892. doi:10.1899/10-116.1
• 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. 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.
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• Lewis, J.J. 1988. The systematics, zoogeography and life history of the troglobitic isopods of the Interior Plateaus of the eastern United States. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. 281 pp.
• 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.
• 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., Glorioso, B.M., Fenolio, D.B., Reynolds, R.G., Taylor, S.J. & Miller, B.T. 2016b. Growth, survival, longevity, and population size of the Big Mouth Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides) from the type locality in Grundy County, Tennessee, USA. Copeia 104: 35–41. doi:10.1643/OT-14-197
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• Rheams, K.F., Moser, P.H. & McGregor, S.W. 1994. Hydrogeologic and biologic factors related to the occurrence of the Alabama cave shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae), Madison County, Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama Bulletin 161: 1–147.
• 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
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• 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. 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.
• Venarsky, M.P., Huryn, A.D. & Benstead, J.P. 2012b. Re-examining extreme longevity of the cave crayfish Orconectes australis using new mark-recapture data: a lesson on the limitations of iterative size-at-age models. Freshwater Biology 57: 1471–1481. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2012.02812.x

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Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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