Lacunicambarus


Lacunicambarus is a genus of burrowing crayfishes in the family Cambaridae. There are currently 12 described species in Lacunicambarus, all of which are found east of the Continental Divide in North America. The genus was first recognized in 2018 when it was discovered through genetic analyses that the Cambarus subgenera Lacunicambarus and Tubericambarus were not monophyletic on their own, but that when combined they formed a single monophyletic group distinct from Cambarus. A 2022 study used anchored hybrid enrichment to resolve the Lacunicambarus phylogeny, which elucidated interspecific relationships and highlighted remaining undescribed diversity within the genus.

Species

Lacunicambarus contains the following 12 species, plus 2 currently undescribed species:Lacunicambarus acanthura Lacunicambarus chimera Glon & Thoma, 2019 Lacunicambarus dalyae Glon, Williams & Loughman, 2019 Lacunicambarus diogenes Lacunicambarus erythrodactylus Lacunicambarus freudensteini Glon, 2020 Lacunicambarus ludovicianus Lacunicambarus miltus Lacunicambarus mobilensis Glon, 2020 Lacunicambarus nebrascensis Lacunicambarus polychromatus
  • ''Lacunicambarus thomai''

Range

Lacunicambarus is one of the widest ranging crayfish genera in North America. Species from this genus can be found in nearly every state east of the Rocky Mountains and in the Province of Ontario. Some species in the genus, such as L. nebrascensis, are remarkably widespread while others, including L. miltus, L. freudensteini, and L. mobilensis have very small ranges.