New Crayfish Species Discovery
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 30th, 2008
In 2005, a new species of crayfish, Cambarus (Tubericambarus) polychromatus (the painted-hand mudbug) was described by Roger Thoma, Raymond Jezerinac and Thomas Simon in volume 118 issue 2 of the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.
Specifically, the cited journal article is: Thoma R.F., Jezerinac, R.F., and Simon, T. P. 2005. “Cambarus (Tubericambarus) polychromatus (Decapoda: Cambaridae), a new species of crayfish from the United States. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 118(2):326-336.
Now, this new species has been identified from southern Illinois, according to the US Forest Service’s Mike Welker on June 30, 2008:
The Cambarus polychromatus, commonly known as the painted-hand mudbug, was recently identified on the Shawnee National Forest. This crawfish had never been documented on the Forest until it was found in two widely separated locations, Dog Creek in Pope County and a tributary to Cedar Lake in Jackson County.
Melissa Mead, Student Career Employment Program (SCEP) ecologist on the Forest, developed a sampling protocol for crayfish and began surveying in 2007. Crayfish are extremely difficult to identify in the field, therefore, Melissa entered into a partnership agreement with the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois to identify species that are collected on the Forest. Under this agreement, Melissa has been working with the Illinois Natural History Survey to better document the locations of crayfish across the Forest.
Melissa [Mead]’s most recent survey effort yielded the discovery of this species of crayfish. The painted-hand mudbug was first recognized by researchers as a new species of crayfish in 2005. The painted-hand mudbug is not rare and is widely distributed throughout Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois. However, the identification of these specimens has documented the painted-hand mudbug for the first time on the Shawnee National Forest.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Save The Museum”: Easy-to-use donation buttons are now available here or merely by clicking the blank button below. Thanks everyone!
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Mudbug. Cool name.
Good news. I like the name also.
That’s cool it is always nice to hear of finding a new species. We always hear about extinct species but never much about new ones.