Orconectes shoupi NatureServe Explorer Species Reports — NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network. Faxonius shoupi, the Nashville crayfish, is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is endemic to Tennessee. Faxonius shoupi is a federal and state endangered crayfish that resides on Mill Creek in Davidson and Williamson counties in Tennessee. Horton Hobbs Jr., discovered this rare crayfish in the 1940s along with C. S. Shoup, a Vanderbilt University professor and colleague. The Nashville crayfish is considered an endangered species by the IUCN Red List, due to the threat of urban development, specifically at the mouth of the creek all the way to the headwaters.
ITIS Reports — ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.
FWS Digital Media Library — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video. The Nashville crayfish, Orconectes shoupi, is a decapod crustacean that grows as large as 6 in (15 cm). Crayfish have four pairs of walking legs and two large claws in front, which are used to capture prey. The pinchers are elongated and the tips have a distinctive orange and black coloration. The type locality of this species is a hard water stream, which flows over sand, rubble and limestone ledges in its upper reaches, which is mostly through pasture and cultivated lands (Hobbs 1948). It has silty, muddy banks, with shade provided by reeds and trees.