Greensboro Burrowing Crayfish

National Range: “known only from the type locality (Greensboro, Guildford County)” (Hobbs Jr. 1989); now known to occur across a wider range in North Carolina (see McGrath 1994)

NC Physiographic Region(s): upper piedmont (Greensboro area to Uwharries); limits of range unclear

River Basin(s): upper Cape Fear (Haw River subdrainage only), central Yadkin-Pee Dee

Adult Habitat: “burrows (primary burrower)” (Hobbs Jr. 1989); "burrows along stream banks and in floodplain (lawns, etc.); a primary burrower which spends most of its life cycle in gallery systems in the subsurface water table” (NHP ICAS 1999)

Reproductive Season: late winter/early spring (?)

Species associates: C. reduncus

Conservation status: state-listed as Special Concern in North Carolina (J.E. Cooper and C. McGrath in Clamp 1999); considered by Taylor et al. (1996) to be Threatened

Identification references: Hobbs Jr. 1989; Hobbs Jr. 1991; also see description written by J.E. Cooper and C. McGrath in Clamp (1999)

Taxonomic Description:

• body shape: dorsoventrally flattened but somewhat vaulted carapace
• coloration:  shades of brown, tan, and green
• spines: marginal and cephalic spines absent; branchiostegal and cervical spines very reduced or absent
• rostrum: fairly wide with subparallel margins, converging at apex; no marginal spines
• areola: narrow but not linear (bearing approx. 1 punctation)
• chelae: large; with two rows of tubercles along mesial margin of palm; moderately developed dorsolongitudinal ridges on fingers; setae between fingers; movable finger angled toward fixed finger; chelae at angle to body
• other characteristics: suborbital angle not acute
• form I male gonopod: corneous central projection, sometimes with small subapical notch; mesial process sloping caudally

Notes:  does not create chimneys to its burrows