The Decapoda or decapods are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is estimated to contain nearly 15,000 species in around 2,700 genera, with around 3,300 fossil species. Nearly half of these species are crabs, with the shrimp and Anomura including hermit crabs, porcelain crabs, squat lobsters making up the bulk of the remainder. The earliest fossil decapod is the Devonian Palaeopalaemon.
Cambarus is a large and diverse genus of crayfish from the United States and Canada. The adults range in size from about 5 centimeters (2 in) up to approximately 15 centimeters (6 in).
Astacidea is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans including lobsters, crayfish, and their close relatives.
The Astacidae comprise the freshwater crayfish native to Europe and western North America. The family is made up of three genera: The genera Astacus and Austropotamobius are both found throughout Europe and parts of western Asia, while Pacifastacus is found on the Pacific coast of the United States and British Columbia and includes the signal crayfish and the Shasta crayfish.
The Cambaridae are the largest of the three families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 species. Most of the species in the family are native the United States east of the Great Divide and Mexico, but fewer range north to Canada, and south to Guatemala and Honduras. Three live on the island of Cuba. The species in the genus Cambaroides are the only found outside North America, as they are restricted to eastern Asia.
Cambarellus is a genus of small freshwater crayfish in the family Cambaridae. The 19 species are found in Mexico and the Gulf States of the United States. Among the Mexican species, C. areolatus, C. patzcuarensis, and C. prolixus are considered seriously threatened by the IUCN, and C. alvarezi is already extinct. C. chihuahuae was also believed to be extinct until rediscovered in 2012. C. alvarezi and four undescribed, extinct Cambarellus species were restricted to desert spring systems in southwestern Nuevo León; each one shared its habitat with a Cyprinodon pupfish.
Procambarus is a genus of crayfish in the family Cambaridae, all native to North and Central America. It includes a number of troglobitic species, and the marbled crayfish (marmorkrebs), which is parthenogenetic. Originally described as a subgenus for four species, it now contains 161 species in 16 subgenera.
Procambarus morrisi is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is only known from the type locality, at the Devil's Sink, west of Interlachen, Putnam County, Florida, and is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Procambarus nigrocinctus, the blackbelted crayfish, is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is listed as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, because it is known from more than 100 sites across thirteen counties, all in the Neches River system, and is common and widespread in a national park.
Procambarus texanus is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is only known from a fish hatchery near Smithville, Bastrop County, Texas. and is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List.
Troglocambarus is a monotypic genus of troglobitic crayfish, endemic to Florida. Troglocambarus maclanei is found underground in Hernando, Marion, Alachua, Columbia, Gilchrist and Suwanee counties, and is named after Mr. William A. McLane who first collected it.
Cambarus bartonii is a species of crayfish native to eastern North America, where it is called the common crayfish or Appalachian brook crayfish.
Faxonius limosus, synonym Orconectes limosus, is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is native to the east coast of North America, from Maine to the lower James River, Virginia, but has also been introduced to Europe. It is known commonly as the spinycheek crayfish.
Fallicambarus is a genus of crayfish in the family Cambaridae from the United States and Canada. It includes 12 species, of which one is on the IUCN Red List as a vulnerable species (VU) and one as an endangered species (EN). The species of this genus are all restricted to three states or fewer, from Texas and Oklahoma east to Florida.
Cambarellus puer is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is known commonly as the swamp dwarf crayfish. It is native to the United States, where it can be found in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
Faxonius immunis is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is native to North America and it is an introduced species in Europe, where it lives along the Upper Rhine. Its common names include calico crayfish and papershell crayfish.
Procambarus fallax is a species of crayfish in the genus Procambarus. It lives in tributaries of the Satilla River in Georgia and Florida. It is the closest relative to the parthenogenetic marbled crayfish, Procambarus virginalis.
Faxonius erichsonianus is a species in the family Cambaridae ("crayfishes"), in the order Decapoda. A common name for Faxonius erichsonianus is reticulate crayfish. Faxonius erichsonianus is found in North America.
Procambarus acutus, the white river crayfish, is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is found in North America and Europe.
Faxonius is a genus of malacostracans in the family Cambaridae. There are more than 90 described species in Faxonius. It includes the rusty crayfish, an invasive species in North America, and three species, F. virilis, F. immunis, and F. limosus, that are invasive to Europe.
