Faxonius maletae

Last updated

Faxonius maletae
Kisatchie Painted Crayfish imported from iNaturalist photo 313794016 on 27 June 2024.jpg
Status TNC G2.svg
Imperiled  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Family: Cambaridae
Genus: Faxonius
Species:
F. maletae
Binomial name
Faxonius maletae
(Walls, 1972) [3]
Synonyms [3]
  • Orconectes difficilis maletae Walls, 1972
  • Orconectes maletae [1]

Faxonius maletae, [4] sometimes called the Kisatchie painted crayfish or Kisatchie painted crawfish, [5] is a species of crawdad in the Cambaridae family. The specific epithet maletae is in honor of the discoverer's wife, author Maleta M. Walls, who helped collect many of the original specimens. [3] It was originally described as a subspecies of Orconectes difficilis, [3] but later elevated to full species status. [6] The common name refers to the Kisatchie National Forest, near where the original specimens were found in Bayou Santabarb  [ ceb; wikidata ]. [3]

Contents

Description

Kisatchie painted crawfish are brown or olive with red, blue, and white to yellow markings. [5] The red is mainly on the central joints of the pereiopods, the postorbital ridges, and a little on the posterior margins of the uropods (tail fins) and abdominal segments. [5] The fingers of the long, stout chelae (claws) are in order from tip to base, red, yellow/cream, blue, and greenish brown/brown. [5]

Its cephalothorax is about 40 millimetres (1.6 in) long, [5] to a maximum of 4.4 centimetres (1.7 in). [6] The rostrum (beak) is acuminate and has lateral spines. [5] It has a closed areola (the hourglass shaped lines on the back). [5]

It is very similar to Faxonius difficilis but has a central projection that is longer and more curved, with a more smoothly curved expanded mesial process. [3] [6] It can be distinguished from F. palmeri by its shorter gonopods [6] (which may reach the third coxa) and a shorter and stouter central projection. [3] It is fairly indistinguishable from F. hathawayi blacki except that form I (breeding) males have an apex of their first pleopod (swimming leg) that is slender, long, and curved. [5] They only have simple copulatory hooks on their third legs. [6] It is also unique among members of its clade for having a structure like a sulcus caused by a single cephalomedian (anterior) prominence. [7]

Behaviour

Form I males are found in low-water conditions between June and October, peaking in September–October. [6] Males have mating plugs in October. [6] Kisatchie painted crawfish reproduce with the male depositing sperm into an external receptacle under the female's abdomen. [5] She then fertilizes her eggs as she excretes them. [5] Both eggs and hatchlings remain with the mother, held under her body by her pleopods until they are big enough to swim and crawl without assistance. [5] June and July are when juveniles are most commonly found. [6]

Habitat and ecology

F. maletae prefers clear flowing streams with sandy bottoms and plenty of plant litter and rocks. [1] Occasionally it found in reed beds. [1]

It eats carrion and plants. [5]

Distribution

The Kisatchie painted crayfish has a very restricted and fragmented range. [1] It has been found in Rapides, [2] Natchitoches, [8] and Sabine Parishes, Louisiana; [5] [6] Upshur, [3] Titus, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, and Marion Counties, Texas; [8] Pittsburg and Latimer Counties, Oklahoma; and Washington County, Arkansas. [1] By river, it is found in Bayou Teche, Kisatchie Bayou, [5] tributaries of the Red River of the South, [6] and in Cypress Creek. [1] There is also evidence of it interbreeding with F. difficilis in Coal County, Oklahoma. [3] Some consider the observations in Louisiana to be of F. hathawayi [1] or F. h. blacki [2] and not F. maletae.

Phylogenetic study of the Texas populations indicate they are distinct genetically, perhaps even a separate cryptic species. [8] The populations also inhabited separate ecological niches, which may further drive speciation. [8]

Threats

Kisatchie painted crayfish are susceptible to increased sediment in the water, particularly related to agricultural runoff and logging. [1] The loss of shade from their practices also negatively impacts the animal. [5] Habitat destruction is specifically a concern in Louisiana, [9] where local extinction has happened. [1] With this and the disjointed range of the species, [9] the population is in decline. [1] [8]

In 1996 the species was listed by the IUCN Red List as being vulnerable, but as of 2010 it is listed as data deficient. [1] NatureServe rated the species as G2 (imperiled) in 2009. [2] The American Fisheries Society rated it "Threatened" in 2007. [9]

Taxonomy

F. maletae was formerly in the Hespericambarus subgenus of Orconectes , originally described by Joseph F. Fitzpatrick Jr. [7] The name derives from the Latin hesperius (literally 'western') and cambarus [7] (lit. 'shrimp'). Members of Hespericambarus included: [7]

However, following the re-classification to Faxonius, no subgenera now exist in the new genus as they were considered not to be monophyletic. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Adams, S.; Schuster, G.A. & Taylor, C.A (2010). "Orconectes maletae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2010 e.T15433A4584468. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T15433A4584468.en . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Orconectes maletae". NatureServe Explorer An online encyclopedia of life. 7.1. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. November 2016. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Walls, Jerry G. (29 February 1972). "Three New Crawfishes Related to Orconectes difficilis (Faxon) (Decapoda: Astacidae)" (PDF). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 84 (53): 449–458. ISSN   1943-6327 . Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  4. 1 2 Crandall, Keith A; De Grave, Sammy (2017). "An updated classification of the freshwater crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidea) of the world, with a complete species list". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 37 (5): 615–653. doi: 10.1093/jcbiol/rux070 .
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Rare Animals of Louisiana Kisatchie painted crawfish" (PDF). Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Baton Rouge, LA. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Walls, Jerry G. (April 2009). Crawfishes of Louisiana (PDF). Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press. pp. 131–132. ISBN   978-0-8071-3409-2. OCLC   255142426 . Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Fitzpatrick, Jr., Joseph F. (25 February 1987). Kensley, Brian (ed.). "The Subgenera of the Crawfish Genus Orconectes (Decapoda: Cambaridae)" (PDF). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 100 (1): 44–74. ISSN   0006-324X . Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Brown, Larrimy Beth (7 April 2017). "Phylogenetic and ecological analysis of two populations of the Kitsatchie Painted Crayfish, Faxonius maletae (Decapoda: Cambaridae)". Biology Theses. Paper 44: 1–63. hdl:10950/576. OCLC   1003859602.
  9. 1 2 3 Taylor, Christopher A.; Schuster, Guenter A.; Cooper, John E.; DiStefano, Robert J.; Eversole, Arnold G.; Hamr, Premek; Hobbs III, Horton H.; Robison, Henry W.; Skelton, Christopher E.; Thoma, Roger F. (August 2007). "A Reassessment of the Conservation Status of Crayfishes of the United States and Canada after 10+ Years of Increased Awareness". Fisheries. 32 (8): 372–389. doi:10.1577/1548-8446(2007)32[372:AROTCS]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   1548-8446. OCLC   4902547044.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.