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Isoperla riverae sp. n. is described from the southeastern USA. The new species is proposed based on details of the adult habitus, male aedeagus, vesicle, female subgenital plate, ovum chorion, and larval habitus. Supporting data includes color images, scanning electron micrographs, genetic analysis of DNA barcodes, and comparative morphology of cognate species. The larva of Isoperla lenati Szczytko & Kondratieff, 2015 is also described supported by color images.

Two new species of stream-dwelling crayfish, Cambarus lapidosus, the Stony Fork Crayfish, and Cambarus burchfielae, the Falls Crayfish, are described from the Yadkin River basin in western North Carolina, USA, using an integrative taxonomic approach consisting of morphological, genetic, and biogeographic data. Both species were previously considered to be members of the widely distributed Cambarus species C complex, which occurs throughout mid-Atlantic Slope river basins; however, they are in fact morphologically and genetically more similar to the Cambarus robustus species complex from interior basins in the south-central Appalachians, indicating Atlantic basin stream capture of an Interior basin faunal group has occurred in this region. Both new species described herein can be differentiated from these two complexes, and each other, by several morphological characteristics. Cambarus lapidosus and C. burchfielae are differentiated from C. species C by the absence of cervical spines and the presence of 1–2 subpalmar tubercles on the chelae in most specimens; both species are less-punctate across the areola than C. aff. robustus. Cambarus burchfielae is further differentiated from C. lapidosus, C. species C, and C. aff. robustus by the presence of a narrower and sparsely punctate areola, a single weak row of tubercles on the mesial margin of the palm, and the absence of tubercles on the dorsal surface of the dactyl. The newly described species are genetically sister taxa and together are most similar by genetic distance to undescribed members of the C. robustus species complex from the nearby (~30 km) Watauga River basin and most phylogenetically similar to C. aff. robustus from the adjacent New River basin; both are interior basin drainages. The newly-described species are endemic to the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and have restricted distributions (

Entocythere cambaria was described by William S. Marshall in 1903 as the first species in what would later become family Entocytheridae. Designated as the type species of Entocythere both by original designation and monotypy, E. cambaria is integral to understanding relationships within the genus. Yet, a type series for E. cambaria was not designated, and specimens used by Marshall to describe the species have since been deemed no longer extant. C.W. Hart Jr. and Dabney Hart assigned a neotype for E. cambaria in 1974, but this specimen was not catalogued into the Invertebrate Zoology Collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, and subsequently disappeared. A specimen, which we believe to be Hart and Hart’s intended neotype, was recently discovered, giving us the opportunity to clarify the neotype designation of E. cambaria, and provide a complete description based on modern standards for podocopid ostracods. In addition, based on careful scrutiny of numerous specimens, including the types, we synonymize Entocythere illinoisensis with E. cambaria, and describe in full for the time the adult female of the species.

Cambarus acuminatus was described by Walter Faxon in 1884 from three specimens collected from the Saluda River in northwestern South Carolina, USA. Cambarus acuminatus sensu lato has since been acknowledged to comprise a species complex. This complex, also known as Cambarus sp. C, spans a range across much of the Piedmont Plateau and Coastal Plain from central South Carolina north to Maryland and southeastern Pennsylvania. A primary impediment to a much-needed thorough taxonomic assessment and revision of C. sp. C is the absence of taxonomically useful type material of C. acuminatus coupled with the lack of a detailed description of the species. Here we provide a redescription of C. acuminatus based on modern standards for astacoidean crayfishes in the genus Cambarus and emend the circumscription of the species, thereby laying the groundwork necessary for future taxonomic and phylogenetic work within, and involving, the C. sp. C complex.

The obligately parthenogenetic marbled crayfish, Procambarus virginalis, is the first formally described asexual species of the Crustacea Decapoda. It is a triploid descendant of the sexually reproducing slough crayfish, Procambarus fallax. Here we describe the morphology of cultured and wild marbled crayfish of wide size ranges in detail and photodocument all taxonomically relevant characters. Some morphological traits and coloration showed considerable variation within populations despite the monoclonal nature of marbled crayfish. There were also significant differences between wild and laboratory populations with respect to body proportions, coloration and spination. Comparison with Procambarus fallax revealed no qualitative morphological characters that unambiguously identify the marbled crayfish. Analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) and nuclear microsatellites of marbled crayfish and Procambarus fallax from different sources indicated that the tri-allelic microsatellite PclG-02 is better suitable than COI to identify the marbled crayfish. A respective identification key is provided. The COI and microsatellites of Procambarus fallax from different areas of Florida and southern Georgia suggest that the parents of the first marbled crayfish may have come from northern Union County, northern Florida.

Ostracods of the family Entocytheridae are obligate ectosymbionts of other crustaceans, including crayfishes, isopods, amphipods, and a species of freshwater crab. Entocytheridae, with five subfamilies, 35 genera, and 213 currently accepted species, represents one the most diverse groups of extant freshwater ostracods. Here, we present the results of an extensive literature review, documenting the often complex historical taxonomic activity and resulting classification of Entocytheridae. This overview highlights inconsistencies, errors, and additional sources of confusion that have been inadvertently introduced into the literature, a number of which have remained uncorrected for decades. Also provided is a comprehensive checklist of taxonomic nomenclature and a list of currently accepted names in Entocytheridae.

Cambarus polypilosus sp. nov. is a stream-dwelling crayfish endemic to tributaries in the Buffalo and lower Duck River drainage, and a reach of the lower Tennessee River in the Western Highland Rim of West-Central Tennessee, U.S.A. The new species is closely allied to the three members of the former subgenus Glareocola, but can be differentiated from each by a combination of characters, including body size, coloration, spination, setation, and form I male gonopod morphology. Several meristic measurements and ratios also differentiate C. polypilosus sp. nov. from Cambarus friaufi, to which it is morphologically most similar. Cambarus polypilosus sp. nov. appears to be common in cherty gravel and cobble habitats, where it is typically found in interstices at depths of 0.3 m or more below the substrate surface.

Targeted sampling efforts by the authors for the signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, from its native range in the John Day River Basin, Oregon, U.S.A. yielded entocytherid ostracods with a male copulatory complex so clearly different from other entocytherines that a new genus, Aurumcythere gen. nov. is proposed to receive them. This newly proposed, apparently nonsclerotized, genus with hook and spur-like prominences of the posteroventral end of the peniferum is the first new genus of the subfamily Entocytherinae named since Hobbs & Peters described Aphelocythere (= Waltoncythere) in 1977. Aurumcythere gen. nov. represents only the second genus of entocytherid known from the Pacific Northwest. Lack of sclerotization in Aurumcythere gen. nov. provides new insight into poorly understood mating behaviors of entocytherid ostracods.