Cambarus buntingi, a New Species of Puncticambarus (Decapoda, Astacidae) from Kentucky and Tennessee

Abstract

buntingi, a new species of crayfish from the Cumberland Plateau and Great Valley in Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau in Kentucky, is described. Color notes, relationships, distribution, life history notes and ecological data are given. The crayfish described herein represents one member of a species complex that Ortmann (1931) united under the name montanus. Girard (1852) described C. montanus from Within the Alleghany (sic) ranges in Virginia and Maryland: tributaries of James river in Rockbridge Co. (Va.): Shenandoah river in Clark Co. (Va.), and Cumberland (Md.) of the hydrographical basin of the Potomac; Sulphur Spring, Greenbrier river, an affluent of Kenhawa (sic) river (Va.) [W. Va.] of the Ohio basin. Unfortunately, the planned subsequent full description and illustrations of Girard's new species were never given, and the original brief account was inadequate to permit the recognition of C. montanus with certainty. Hagen (1870) treated C. montanus as a synonym of C. bartonii (-Astacus bartonii, Fabricius, 1798) after examining one of the type specimens. The syntypes of C. montanus were destroyed by the Chicago fire of 1871 while on loan to William Stimpson (Faxon, 1914). Faxon (1885) supported Hagen's opinion but later (1914), after noting that Cambarus bartonii from the Alleghany region of West Virginia and Virginia ... fall into two, sets of forms, gave C. montanus subspecific ranking under C. bartonii. The insight of Hagen (1870) and Faxon (1885, TABLE 1-.Measurements (mm) of (Puncticambarus) buntingi Holotype Allotype Morphotype Carapace Height 20.4 15.4 17.1 Width 25.6 21.6 22.3 Postorbital carapace length 41.2 35.1 35.4 Total length of carapace 49.8 43.3 44.1 Rostrum Width 5.8 4.6 4.5 Length 8.6 8.2 8.7 Areola Width 3.1 3.6 3.3 Length 18.0 14.8 15.0 Chela Length, palm 14.6 9.6 10.6 Width, palm 19.5 13.7 15.8 Length, lateral margin 49.6 33.1 35.7 Length, dactyl 31.1 20.9 22.5