Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is the second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. The lake is shared among four countries—Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia—with Tanzania (46%) and the DRC (40%) possessing the majority of the lake. It drains into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.
Platythelphusa is a genus of freshwater crabs endemic to Lake Tanganyika. It has been placed in a number of families, including a monotypic family, Platythelphusidae, as well as Potamidae and its current position in the Potamonautidae, and has also been treated as a subgenus of Potamonautes. It forms a monophyletic group, possibly nested within the genus Potamonautes, which would therefore be paraphyletic. The genus is the only evolutionary radiation of crabs to have occurred in a freshwater lake, and it occurred recently, probably since the Pliocene. This parallels the better known radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika. Only one other species of freshwater crab is found in Lake Tanganyika, Potamonautes platynotus.
Potamonautes is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent. They are found in most freshwater habitats of the African mainland and some species are semi-terrestrial.
Potamonautes choloensis is a species of freshwater crustacean in the family Potamonautidae.
Rotundopotamonautes emini is a species of crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in the Rwenzori Mountains between Lake Edward and Lake Albert in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Potamonautes gerdalensis is a species of crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are rivers and freshwater lakes. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Potamonautes gonocristatus is a species of crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to Lake Kivu, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
Potamonautes idjiwiensis is a species of crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to the island of Idjwi in Lake Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its natural habitats are streams and other freshwater habitats.
Potamonautes johnstoni is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in rivers in Kenya and Tanzania, with unconfirmed records from Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species' distribution includes Kilimanjaro, Nekona, Mrogoro and the Usambara Mountains.
Potamonautes montivagus is a species of freshwater crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is native to southeastern Africa. Its natural habitat is rivers.
Potamonautes mutandensis is an endangered species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in Lake Mutanda and Lake Kivu in Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo.
Potamonautes niloticus is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in the Nile Basin in Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda. Numerous specimens of P. niloticus are known from Miocene deposits around Lake Albert.
Potamonautes obesus is a species of crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is swamps.
Potamonautes platycentron is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae, which is endemic to Lake Chala in Kenya and Tanzania. It was originally described by Franz Martin Hilgendorf in 1897, as Telphusa platycentron.
Potamonautes platynotus is a species of freshwater crab which is endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it is the only freshwater crab outside the genus Platythelphusa. Although primarily aquatic, P. platynotus is sometimes seen out of water, and can survive for many hours without water.
Potamonautes raybouldi is a species of freshwater crab. It lives in water-filled tree holes in forests in the eastern Usambara Mountains of Tanzania and the Shimba Hills in Kenya. It is threatened by deforestation resulting from the expansion of the human population, and is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. The species was described in 2004, and named after Professor John N. Raybould of the University of Bristol, who collected the first specimens of the species.
Rotundopotamonautes rukwanzi is a species of crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to Uganda. Its natural habitat is freshwater lakes.
Potamonautes sidneyi is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. The common name is the Natal river crab or Sidney's river crab, although they may also be referred to as "river crabs", "fresh water crabs" or "land crabs".
Potamonautes lividus, also known as the blue river crab, is a species of decapod in the family Potamonautidae. P. lividus is endemic to the country of South Africa in a area of 200 kilometers squared. The species prefers inland freshwater bodies in wetlands, bogs, marshes, freshwater swamp forests and peatlands (mire). P. livisus is found most often in the province Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa with the species also living in Richards bay, Ntambanana, Mtubatuba and uncoifirmed sighting in the Amatikulu river which if confirmed, represents the southern most members of the Potamonautes lividus species.
