Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
Crayfish SGCN and Priority Species by Evaluation Categories and Comparison between SWAPs
Knowledge Gaps
Management Needs
SWAP Date
SGCN
2025
28 22 19
45 14 14
56
2020 Addendum 1
5 5
2015
Some species are a priority in more than one of the three evaluation categories. These changes do not necessarily indicate a change in the concern status of these species; they are more likely to reflect an increase in our knowledge base for the species. Since the publication of the 2015 SWAP, several new crayfish species have been formally recognized, primarily due to collaborative efforts by the NC Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS), NCWRC biologists, and research partners. Notably, two new stream-dwelling species—the Stony Fork Crayfish and the Falls Crayfish—were identified in the Yadkin River basin in western North Carolina (Perkins et al. 2023) . An additional species from this complex, the South Mountains Crayfish, was described in 2019 and is restricted to two watersheds within the Catawba River basin (Perkins et al. 2019) . These newly described taxa were previously grouped within the morphologically variable Cambarus species C complex, which occurs broadly across the state. Species identification relied on genetic methods, including DNA extraction, amplification, and sequencing (Perkins et al. 2023) . We highlight specific conservation issues related to SGCN and their habitats in the following sections. This is not an exhaustive list of species-specific conservation concerns but rather highlights some of the concerns in the state. Recommendations for priority survey, monitoring, and research studies, conservation actions, and partnerships are outlined in Section 3.4.8. 3.4.3 Conservation Concerns Table 3-3 (Appendix 3) provides a list of Crayfish SGCN and other priority species. River basin and habitat associations for these species are provided in Table 3-17 (terrestrial species) and Table 3-18 (aquatic species) (see Appendix 3). Crayfish are one of the most threatened freshwater taxa assessed according to the 2010 update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (Richman et al. 2015; Reynolds and Souty-Grosset 2012) . Twenty-eight species are SGCN, and the majority are either North Carolina endemics, have a small range-wide distribution, or have a nominal part of their distribution in the state. Extinction risk is often attributed to small range size and degradation of freshwater habitats, especially from urban development and pollution (Crandall and Buhay 2008; Richman et al. 2015) . Lodge (et al. 2000b) consider invasive, nonnative crayfishes as the primary threat facing native crayfish populations. Taylor (et al. 2007) note five broad factors that
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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