An Annotated List of the Crayfishes of Kansas with First Records of Orconectes macrus and Procambarus acutus in Kansas

Abstract

Williams and Leonard (1952) published the only comprehensive work on Kansas crayfishes (Cambaridae) and listed seven species in the state. However, research completed since 1952 has added to our knowledge of the natural history of Kansas crayfishes and increased the number of species known in the state to eight (Metcalf and Distler, 1963). My recent examination of collections from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP), specimens housed at the Kansas Biological Survey, and incidental crayfish specimens present in fish collections at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and the Fort Hayes State Sternburg Museum of Natural History provides new data on the distribution and natural history of Kansas crayfishes. Specimens for all new records are housed at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, Division of Invertebrate Zoology except for the specimens of Orconectes macrus collected by A. Slater which are housed at the Kansas Biological Survey. Currently, none of the specimens mentioned have catalog numbers. I confirm the addition of two species of crayfish to the fauna of Kansas and provide an annotated list of the crayfishes of Kansas to supplement Williams and Leonard (1952). The Neosho midget crayfish, Orconectes macrus, was known previously only from the Spring River basin in Missouri and Arkansas (Williams, 1954b; Pflieger, 1996). Pflieger (1996) suggested that Orconectes macrus should occur in the Spring River basin in Kansas and Oklahoma. Four specimens of this species were collected in the Spring River in Cherokee County, Kansas (SW sec. 11, T33S, R25E) by A. Slater on 17 May 1979 and three more specimens of this species were collected by the KDWP Neosho River Basin sampling crew on 7 August 1996 at the same site. Because of its restricted distribution in Missouri and Arkansas, it is likely that Orconectes macrus is restricted to the Spring River drainage in Kansas. The White River crayfish, Procambarus acutus, is a wide-ranging crayfish present along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts as well as the central Mississippi River drainage north to the Great Lakes. Procambarus acutus occurs in the Arkansas River drainage in Oklahoma (Creaser and Ortenburger, 1933; Reimer, 1967). Creaser and Ortenburger (1933) mentioned that the species probably occurred in Kansas as well. However, Williams and Leonard (1952)