Santa Fe Cave Crayfish
Procambarus erythrops Relyea & Sutton, 1975

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Sims Sink, Suwannee Co., FL

Range

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

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Florida

Counties

Florida

Columbia, Jackson, Suwannee

Karst regions

Florida Lime Sinks

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 6 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

USNM 133471 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Allotype

USNM 133472 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype ×6

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Paratype

1980.412 · Natural History Museum, London

Paratype

RMNH.CRUS.D.29454 · Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Collections holding material

27 cataloged lots in 4 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 27 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 19 January 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

• Mining & Quarrying
• Dams & Water Extraction
• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Commercial/Industrial
• Pollution - Agricultural & Forestry
• Climate Change-Sea Level Rise

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7WLSQ

GBIF

2227228

ITIS

97585

iNaturalist

110446

NCBI Taxonomy

1937857

References

• 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
• Franz, R. 1992k. Sante Fe Cave Crayfish Procambarus (Ortmannicus) erythrops Relyea and Sutton. In: Deyrup, M. & Franz, R. (eds), Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume IV. Invertebrates, pp. 195–197. 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.
• Gannon, A.T., Demarco, V.G., Morris, T., Wheatly, M.G., Kao & Y-H. 1999. Oxygen uptake, critical oxygen tension, and available oxygen for three species of cave crayfishes. Journal of Crustacean Biology 19: 235–243. doi:10.2307/1549229
• 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.
• Morris, T. & Butt, P.L. 1994. A re-survey of the population of the Squirrel Chimney (Florida) cave shrimp (Palaemonetes cummingi), other species, and the condition of the environment within the Squirrel Chimney Cave system, Alachua County, Florida. Report prepared for Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. Karst Environmental Services, Inc., High Springs, Florida, USA. 12 pp.
• 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. & Sutton, B. 1973a. Ecological data for a Florida troglobitic crayfish. Florida Scientist 36: 234–235. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24319474. 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
• Streever, W.J. 1996. Energy economy hypothesis and the troglobitic crayfish Procambarus erythrops in Sim's Sink Cave, Florida. The American Midland Naturalist 135: 357–366. doi:10.2307/2426719
• 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

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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