Faxonella blairi (Hayes and Reimer)

Map [dots indicate Ouachita National Forest collection sites]

Recognition Characters: Rostrum short, broad (less than 1.5 times as long as broad), and without a central troughlike depression, its margins tapering to a short acumen that is without lateral spines or tubercles. The areola is about three times as long as wide (length 30% of carapace length). Chela narrow and cylindrical with short, abruptly tapering fingers. Males with hooks on third pereiopods only. First pleopod of Form I male extending cephalad to coxopodite of first pleopod, terminating in two rami; both rami twisted mesially with tip bent caudally, noncorneous. Overlapping of terminal elements in normal position about 1/3 distance from base of central projections, at level of tips of mesial processes. In ventral view, the primary processes of the right and left first pleopods cross each other at an angle, like crossed sabers. Annulus ventralis of female immovable, subquadrate, with two elevations on cephalic half and prominent subangular caudal lip. Abdomen length equal to that of the thorax. Anterior section of telson with two spines in each posterolateral corner.

Coloration: This species is a reddish-tan or olive-tan crayfish with a pair of blackish lines or dashes extending lengthwise along the dorsal surface of the carapace and abdomen.

Size: Adults are usually 1 to 2 inches (25-50 mm) long.

Habitat: Hayes and Reimer (1977) reported this species common in roadside ditches and woodland swamp areas which had an average depth of 12 inches (31 mm). In this study, Faxonella blairi was common in roadside ditches along highways where woodland areas were adjacent to the roadways.

General Range: Faxonella blairi appears to be a geographic isolate of the genus in the Red River drainage of southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas (Hayes and Reimer, 1977).

Comments: This crayfish species evidently is the ecological equivalent of Faxonella clypeata, a Coastal Plain inhabitant of Arkansas to the east. The type locality of Faxonella blairi is a woodland swamp, approximately 100 yards (93.9 m) west of U. S. Hwy. 259 on the north side of the Little River, seven miles (11.3 km) south of Broken Bow, Oklahoma (Hayes and Reimer, 1977). Crayfish associates of F. blairi were Procambarus acutus and Fallicambarus fodiens (Hayes and Reimer, 1977).

Only 11 specimens were collected from five localities within the Tiak District of the ONF in Oklahoma rendering this crayfish an uncommon member of the Oklahoma portion of the ONF crayfish fauna (Table 6).

Back