Species: Orconectes virilis

Virile Crayfish
Species

    50% of total length of pleopod, central projection longer and with distal third smoothly curved so that apex directed caudally, lacking shoulder on cephalic margin of pleopod (Hobbs, 1976). [LENGTH: to 70 TCL; to 150 TL] [WIDTH: to 30]

    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Crustacea
    Class

    Malacostraca

    Order

    Decapoda

    Family

    Cambaridae

    Genus

    Orconectes

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Northern Crayfish - écrevisse à pinces bleues
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Invertebrates - Crustaceans - Crayfishes
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Crustacea - Malacostraca - Decapoda - Cambaridae - Orconectes - (Matthews et al., 2008; Matthews and Warren, 2008), and they may be synonymous.

    50% of total length of pleopod, central projection longer and with distal third smoothly curved so that apex directed caudally, lacking shoulder on cephalic margin of pleopod (Hobbs, 1976). [LENGTH: to 70 TCL; to 150 TL] [WIDTH: to 30]

    Habitat Type Description
    Freshwater
    Migration
    false - false - false
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    Opportunistic.
    Reproduction Comments
    Amplexus in fall; brooding mid-Mar - Jul; females do not breed until 2nd yr, amles perhaps late in 1st yr. In North Carolina, a Form I male and a female were collected in copulation in late March in the Linville River and an ovigerous female was also collected (Simmons and Fraley, 2010).
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    2009-07-01
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-02-19
    Other Status

    Currently Stable - 1996-01-01

    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S4&CA.MB=SNR&CA.NB=__&CA.ON=S5&CA.QC=S4&CA.SK=S5&US.AL=SE&US.AZ=SE&US.AR=SNR&US.CA=SE&US.CO=S4&US.CT=SE&US.ID=SE&US.IL=S5&US.IN=S5&US.IA=S5&US.KS=S5&US.ME=SE&US.MD=SE&US.MA=SE&US.MI=S4&US.MN=SNR&US.MO=SNR&US.MT=S4&US.NN=S3&US.NE=SNR&US.NH=SE&US.NM=SE&US.NY=SE&US.NC=SE&US.ND=S3&US.OH=S3&US.OK=S5&US.PA=SE&US.RI=SE&US.SD=SNR&US.TN=S5&US.TX=SE&US.UT=SE&US.VT=SE&US.VA=SE&US.WA=SE&US.WV=SE&US.WI=S5&US.WY=SNR" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - This species ranges very widely, occurring farther north in Canada than any other crayfish species. Its native range extends as far north as the southern tip of Hudson Bay; southward it occurs from New England to western Montana and through the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio River basins to Oklahoma and northern Arkansas; and it has also been widely introduced outside its native range (Pflieger, 1996). Recently it was discovered in the United Kingdom for the first time in the River Lee system of North London (Ahern et al., 2008).
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.112669