Tuesday Crustie: Volcanic

The hot new place to discover a new species seems to be pet stores.

Meet the fourth new crayfish species found in the pet trade this year.

For those keeping score, we’ve had Cherax pulcher, Cherax gherardiae, Cherax snowden described this year. To that list, we can now add Cherax subterigneus.

As far as I can tell, the species name breaks down as “subter” (as in subterranean, underneath) and “igneus” (similar to igneous rocks, “hot” rocks formed from volcanic activity). The authors say the name refers “to the Latin form for fiery orange color and bottom side(.)”

This is almost getting a bit goofy, how many crayfish species collectors pulled in and were selling before scientists got to them. I am seriously starting to wonder how many more times I am going to have to update this slide this year:

Reference

Patoka J, Bláha M, Kouba A. Cherax (Cherax) subterigneus, a new crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae) from West Papua, Indonesia. Journal of Crustacean Biology: in press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1937240X-00002377