NC Physiographic Region(s): northwestern mountains

River Basin(s): New (New-Kanawha endemic)

Adult Habitat: “rocky streams” (Hobbs Jr. 1989); “preferred habitat is under and between rocks in unsilted, cool, swiftly moving streams with rocky riffle areas away from the shore, often in larger, turbulent streams” (NHP ICAS 1999); clear lotic systems; rivers and large streams; under rocks (larger crayfish under larger rocks) or in leaf litter in deeper pools

Juvenile Habitat: along edges in silt or detritus

Reproductive Season: fall through spring (like C. longulus) (?)

Species associates: C. bartonii, C. robustus, O. cristavarius, others (like C (C.) sp. A)?

Conservation status: placed on North Carolina Watch List (W.F. Adams and J.E. Cooper in Clamp 1999); considered by Taylor et al. (1996) to be currently stable throughout its range

Identification references: Hobbs Jr. 1989, Hobbs Jr. 1991, Jezerinac et al. 1995

Taxonomic Description:

body shape: dorsoventrally flattened; very large animal
coloration:  smooth (vs. mottled) coloring; basic coloration in shades of tan, brown, and orange with highlights in various shades of green, turquoise, blue, yellow and red; underside cream; dark blue or black band straddling cervical groove; rostral margins red
spines: cervical spines or tubercles absent; branchiostegal spines absent (?); postorbital spines present
rostrum: swollen, concave margins; lacking marginal spines; smallish in size; somewhat concave or ladel-like; with corneous tubercle at apex
areola: medium-wide to wide; bearing approx. 10 punctations across narrowest part
chelae: smooth and very large with long fingers (longer than carapace in many cases); possessing large gape between fingers; absence of setae between fingers (or very sparse); with one row of tubercles along mesial margin of palm; lacking dorsolongitudinal ridges (or poorly developed); dactyl length approx. 2.5 x the length of the palm
other characteristics: eyes well developed; suborbital angle obtuse or absent; smooth carapace
form I male gonopod:  central projection corneous, truncated, and with a subapical notch; mesial process inflated at base and tapering