Cambarus carinirostris

Cambarus bartonii carinirostris currently considered a full species, Cambarus carinirostris Hay, 1914 (see Thoma and Jezerinac, 2000).

This species is widespread and secure within its relatively wide (EOO >20,000 sq. km) range with limited or no immediate threats except regionally.

It inhabits the tributaries of the Cheat, Greenbrier, and Tygart rivers in West Virginia, the Allegheny and Monongahela river basins in Pennsylvania and New York, and is widespread in eastern Ohio (Fetzner 2008; Thoma and Jezerinac 1999). In recent years this species has extended its range to the basin of Lake Erie and can now be found in the tributaries of the Grand River, Ohio and Gennessee River, New York (Thoma and Jezerinac 2000). It extends into a small portion of Virginia in the East River in Tazewell and Bland Cos. (R. Thoma, pers. comm., 2009). It has recently been documented in the Monongahela River in Maryland (R. Thoma, T. Jones, pers. comm., 2009).

In Ohio, it is confined to the preglacial Pittsburgh River basin (the Flushing Escarpment) in the eastern portion of the state, but has been able to expand its range into the Lake Erie basin and now can be found in tributaries from the Grand River and east to the Gennessee River of New York (Thoma and Jezerinac, 2000). Jezerinac and Thoma (1984) cite streams of the Flushing Escarpment, Mahoning River, and headwaters of the Grand River in eastern and northeastern Ohio. It extends into a small portion of Virginia in the East River in Tazewell and Bland Cos. (R. Thoma, pers. comm., 2009). It has recently been documented in the Monongahela River drainage in small, headwater streams (Youghiogheny and Casselman Rivers) in Maryland where it is considered stable (R. Thoma, T. Jones, pers. comm., 2009; Killian et al., 2010). In West Virginia, it occurs in the Monongahela, central portions of the Kanawha, and north-central regions of teh Ohio River (Jezerinac et al., 1995; Loughman and Welsh, 2010).

Sedimentation caused by forest removal has greatly reduced the size of populations of Cambarus carinirostris in Ohio. Furthermore, strip mining and acid mine drainage can extirpate this species form affected areas locally (Thoma and Jezerinac 2000).