Orlando Cave Crayfish
Procambarus acherontis (Lonnberg, 1894)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Well in Orlando, FL

Range

Known from four counties in Florida in the Florida Lime Sinks karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Florida

Counties

Florida

Citrus, Lake, Orange, Seminole

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

Neotype

USNM 79352 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Syntype

10279 · Swedish Museum of Natural History

Type

9143 · Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin

Collections holding material

18 cataloged lots in 6 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 18 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

G1 Critically Imperiled

Global rank last reviewed 15 March 2023.

Subnational ranks

Florida

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

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7WLQK

GBIF

2227255

ITIS

97495

iNaturalist

110402

NCBI Taxonomy

1937820

References

• Caine, E.A. 1974a. Zoogeography of the Floridian troglobitic crayfishes, genus Procambarus. The American Midland Naturalist 92: 487–492. doi:10.2307/2424314
• 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
• 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
• Franz, R. 1992f. Orlando Cave Crayfish Procambarus (Lonnbergius) acherontis (Lonnberg). In: Deyrup, M. & Franz, R. (eds), Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume IV. Invertebrates, pp. 183–185. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
• Franz, R. 1992s. North Florida Spider Cave Crayfish Troglocambarus maclanei Hobbs. In: Deyrup, M. & Franz, R. (eds), Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume IV. Invertebrates, pp. 214–216. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
• 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.
• Harris, J.A. 1903. An ecological catalogue of the crayfishes belonging to the genus Cambarus. Kansas University Science Bulletin 2: 51–187.
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1936. Some Florida crawfishes and their habitat distribution. Proceedings of the Florida Academy of Sciences 1: 154. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24315538. details
• 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. 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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. 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., Blody, D. & Bankowski, K. 1976. A Florida troglobitic crayfish: biogeographic implications. Florida Scientist 39: 71–72. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24319602. 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
• 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
• 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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