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Issue: Vol. 5632 No. 3: 8 May 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-05-08
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5632.3.4
Page range: 501-521
Abstract views: 278
PDF downloaded: 88

Genome skimming supports two new crayfish species from the genus Pacifastacus Bott, 1950 (Decapoda: Astacidae)

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences; University of Illinois; Urbana; Illinois 61801; United States
Pacific Biological Station; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Nanaimo; British Columbia V9T 6N7; Canada
Pacific Biological Station; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Nanaimo; British Columbia V9T 6N7; Canada
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology; University of Victoria; Victoria; British Columbia V8P 5C2; Canada
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology; University of Victoria; Victoria; British Columbia V8P 5C2; Canada
Invertebrate Zoology; Royal BC Museum; Victoria; British Columbia V8W 9W2; Canada
Pacific Biological Station; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Nanaimo; British Columbia V9T 6N7; Canada
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; Raleigh; North Carolina 27699; United States
Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology; Kanazawa University; Kanazawa 920-1192; Japan
Crustacea mitogenome Misfortunate Crayfish Okanagan Crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus Pacifastacus malheurensis sp. nov. Pacifastacus okanaganensis sp. nov.

Abstract

Recent phylogenetic analyses have suggested that the Signal Crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana, 1852), contains two highly distinct lineages that merit recognition as species. We further investigate these lineages here using genome skimming to conduct phylogenetic analyses on mitogenomes and highly repetitive 18S, 28S, and H3 nuclear markers. We also analyze morphological characters of these putative species to identify traits that may facilitate their identification in the field. Phylogenetic trees of mitogenomes support these lineages as species in the family Astacidae, and phylogenetic trees based on concatenated nuclear markers return comparable topologies. We describe these crayfishes as the Misfortunate Crayfish, Pacifastacus malheurensis sp. nov., which occurs in central and eastern Oregon, United States, and the Okanagan Crayfish, Pacifastacus okanaganensis sp. nov., which occurs in south central British Columbia, Canada and north central Washington, United States. Both of these species of Pacifastacus face conservation risks from displacement by non-native invasive crayfishes, but P. malheurensis sp. nov. is especially vulnerable to the rapidly spreading Rusty Crayfish, Faxonius rusticus (Girard, 1852), in central Oregon.

 

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How to Cite

Larson, E.R., Abbott, C.L., Gilmore, S.R., Helbing, C.C., Lopez, M.L.D., Macintosh, H., Stenhouse, L.M., Williams, B.W. & Usio, N. (2025) Genome skimming supports two new crayfish species from the genus Pacifastacus Bott, 1950 (Decapoda: Astacidae). Zootaxa, 5632 (3), 501–521. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5632.3.4