Orconectes

Orconectes
Unidentified Orconectes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Family: Cambaridae
Genus: Orconectes
Cope, 1872
Type species
Orconectes inermis
Cope, 1872

Orconectes is a genus of cave dwelling freshwater crayfish, endemic to suitable habitats in the eastern United States. Surface dwelling species, formerly categorised here, were moved to Faxonius in 2017.[1]

Due to their subterranean habitat, they are usually depigmented, often blind, and are long-lived. Ages of 176 years have been claimed for O. australis, though this was reduced to ≤22 years in a 2012 study.[2]

  1. ^ Keith A Crandall; Sammy De Grave. "An updated classification of the freshwater crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidea) of the world, with a complete species list". The Crayfish and Lobster Taxonomy Browser. Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Michael P. Venarsky (2012). "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 (7): 1471–1481. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2012.02812.x.