Cherax

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Superclassis: Multicrustacea
Classis: Malacostraca
Subclassis: Eumalacostraca
Superordo: Eucarida
Ordo: Decapoda
Subordo: Pleocyemata
Infraordo: Astacidea
Superfamilia: Parastacoidea

Familia: Parastacidae
Genus: Cherax
Subgenera: C. (Astaconephrops)

Species: C. acherontis – C. albertisii – C. albidus – C. alyciae – C. angustus – C. aruanus – C. austini – C. barretti – C. bicarinatus – C. boschmai – C. buitendijkae – C. cainii – C. cairnsensis – C. cartalacoolah – C. cid – C. communis – C. crassimanus – C. cuspidatus – C. davisi – C. depressus – C. destructor – C. dispar – C. divergens – C. esculus – C. gherardiae – C. glaber – C. glabrimanus – C. gladstonensis – C. longipes – C. lorentzi – C. misolicus – C. monticola – C. mosessalossa – C. murido – C. neocarinatus – C. neopunctatus – C. nucifraga – C. pallidus – C. paniaicus – C. papuanus – C. parvus – C. peknyi – C. plebejus – C. preissii – C. pulcher – C. punctatus – C. quadricarinatus – C. quinquecarinatus – C. rhynchotus – C. robustus – C. rotundus – C. setosus – C. snowden – C. solus – C. tenuimanus – C. urospinosus – C. warsamsonicus – C. wasselli
Name

Cherax Erichson, 1846
References

Erichson, W.F. (1846). Übersicht der Arten der Gattung Astacus. Arch. Naturgesch. xii: 86–103, 375-377.
Lukhaup, C., Eprilurahman, R. & von Rintelen, T. 2017. Cherax warsamsonicus, a new species of crayfish from the Kepala Burung (Vogelkop) peninsula in West Papua, Indonesia (Crustacea, Decapoda, Parastacidae). ZooKeys 660: 151–167. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.660.11847 Reference page.
Lukhaup, C., Eprilurahman, R. & von Ritelen, T. 2017. Corrigenda: Cherax warsamsonicus, a new species of crayfish from the Kepala Burung (Vogelkop) peninsula in West Papua, Indonesia (Crustacea, Decapoda, Parastacidae) ZooKeys 660: 151–167. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.660.11847 ZooKeys 665: 147–148. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.665.12850 . Reference page.
Lukhaup, C., Eprilurahman, R. & von Rintelen, T. 2018. Two new species of crayfish of the genus Cherax from Indonesian New Guinea (Crustacea, Decapoda, Parastacidae). ZooKeys 769: 89–116. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.769.26095. Reference page.
Lukhaup, C., Panteleit, J. & Schrimpf, A. 2015. Cherax snowden, a new species of crayfish (Crustacea, Decapoda, Parastacidae) from the Kepala Burung (Vogelkop) Peninsula in Irian Jaya (West Papua), Indonesia. Zookeys 518: 1–14. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.518.6127 Full article. Reference page.
Patoka, J., Bláha, M. & Kouba, A. 2015. Cherax (Astaconephrops) gherardii, a new crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae) from West Papua, Indonesia. Zootaxa 3964(5): 526–536. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3964.5.2 Preview (PDF) Reference page.
Patoka, J., Bláha, M. & Kouba, A. 2017. Cherax acherontis (Decapoda: Parastacidae), the first cave crayfish from the Southern Hemisphere (Papua Province, Indonesia). Zootaxa 4363(1): 137–144. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4363.1.7 Reference page.
Sokol, A. 1988: Morphological variation in relation to the taxonomy of the destructor group of the genus Cherax. Invertebrate taxonomy, 2(1): 55–79. DOI: 10.1071/IT9880055

Vernacular names
English: yabbies
ไทย: กุ้งยับบี้น้ำจืด
中文: 光壳虾属

Cherax, commonly known as yabby/yabbies in Australia, is the most widespread genus of fully aquatic crayfish in the Southern Hemisphere. Various species of cherax may be found in both still and flowing bodies of freshwater across most of Australia and New Guinea. Together with Euastacus, it is also the largest crayfish genus in the Southern Hemisphere.
Habitat

Members of the cherax genus can be found in lakes, rivers, and streams across most of Australia and New Guinea.[1]

The most common and widely distributed species in Australia is the common yabby (C. destructor). It is generally found in lowland rivers and streams, lakes, swamps, and impoundments at low to medium altitude, largely within the Murray–Darling Basin. Common yabbies are found in many ephemeral waterways, and can survive dry conditions for long periods of time (at least several years) by aestivating (lying dormant) in burrows sunk deep into muddy creek and swamp beds.

In New Guinea, Cherax crayfish are found widely in rivers, streams, and lakes, with a particularly high diversity in the Paniai Lakes.[2] New Guinea is also home to the only known cave-living crayfish in the Southern Hemisphere, C. acherontis.[3]
Introduced

Some species are very colourful and sometimes seen in the freshwater aquarium trade.[4]
Reproduction

[clarification needed]

The mating season for Cherax is during early spring. After fertilisation, eggs develop inside the mother’s body for 4 to 6 weeks. After that period, the eggs transition to the outside of the mother's body and rest on the female’s tail. Then the eggs continue to develop and hatch in spring.[5]
Yabbies can inhabit shallow creeks during the wet season and burying themselves during droughts

Both sexes of Cherax are selective with copulation partners. Females tend to choose males with a larger central mass (abdomen and tail) and cheliped. Males tend to select copulation partners who have larger body sizes and are virgins. Opposed to females who were more dominant or had symmetrical chelipeds.[6]

As part of a mating/copulation ritual, males and females fight each other. This allows the female to test the strength of the male to determine if they will produce profitable offspring.[7] During the fight both release urine. The female’s release of urine triggers a sexual response from the male.[7] The male's release of urine is an aggressive response towards the fight with the female. When the male smells the female's urine it will stop releasing its own, hoping the female will allow them to copulate.[citation needed]

Once the female has allowed the male to deposit its sperm. The male will position itself on its back and deposit its sperm.[8] Unlike other crayfish species, the Cherax dispar does not use its cheliped to cage females during copulation. It is mainly used during mating when the males and females fight.
Behaviour

In instances when displaying males have chelae of a similar size, they will engage in combat and those with the greater chelae closing force will win.[9]

Female C. dispar uses honest signalling of strength meaning the size of their chelae is a good indication to other C. dispar about that individual's strength.[9] Individuals possessing larger chelae engage in more agonistic encounters and are also more likely to win.[9] In a study of female C. dispar chelae strength, they found that chelae size also indirectly indicated the dominance of the female because of its honest indication of strength.[9]
Species
Cherax "Blue Moon" which could be C. boesemani or C. holthuisi

The genus contains at least 59 species:[10][11]

Cherax acherontis Patoka, Bláha & Kouba, 2017[3]
Cherax albertisii Nobili, 1899
Cherax albidus Clarke, 1936
Cherax alyciae Lukhaup, Eprilurahman & von Rintelen, 2018
Cherax aruanus Roux, 1911
Cherax austini Coughran & Hobson, 2012
Cherax barretti Clark, 1941
Cherax bicarinatus (Gray, 1845)
Cherax boesemani Lukhaup & Pekny, 2008
Cherax boschmai Holthuis, 1949
Cherax buitendijkae Holthuis, 1949
Cherax cainii Austin, 2002
Cherax cairnsensis Riek, 1969
Cherax cartalacoolah Short, 1993
Cherax cid Coughran & Furse, 2012
Cherax communis Holthuis, 1949
Cherax crassimanus Riek, 1967
Cherax cuspidatus Riek, 1969
Cherax davisi Clark, 1941
Cherax depressus Riek, 1951
Cherax destructor Clark, 1936
Cherax dispar Riek, 1951
Cherax esculus Riek, 1956
Cherax gherardii Patoka, Bláha & Kouba, 2015[12][13]
Cherax glaber Riek, 1967
Cherax glabrimanus Riek, 1967
Cherax gladstonensis Riek, 1969
Cherax holthuisi Lukhaup & Pekny, 2006
Cherax leckii Coughran, 2005
Cherax longipes Holthuis, 1949
Cherax lorentzi Roux, 1911
Cherax minor Holthuis, 1996
Cherax misolicus Holthuis, 1949
Cherax monticola Holthuis, 1950
Cherax murido Holthuis, 1949
Cherax neocarinatus Riek, 1967
Cherax neopunctatus Riek, 1969
Cherax nucifraga Short, 1991
Cherax pallidus Holthuis, 1949
Cherax paniaicus Holthuis, 1949
Cherax papuanus Holthuis, 1949
Cherax parvus Short & Davie, 1993
Cherax peknyi Lukhaup & Herbert, 2008
Cherax plebejus (Hess, 1865)
Cherax preissii (Erichson, 1846) syn. Cherax angustus McCulloch, 1914
Cherax pulcher Lukhaup, 2015[4]
Cherax punctatus Clark, 1936
Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868)
Cherax quinquecarinatus (Gray, 1845)
Cherax rhynchotus Riek, 1951
Cherax robustus Riek, 1951
Cherax rotundus Clark, 1941
Cherax setosus (Riek, 1951)
Cherax snowden Lukhaup, Panteleit & Schrimpf, 2015[14] syn. Cherax subterigneus[13]
Cherax solus Holthuis, 1949
Cherax tenuimanus (Smith, 1912)
Cherax urospinosus Riek, 1969
Cherax wagenknechtae Eprilurahman / Lukhaup, 2022
Cherax wasselli Riek, 1969

References

Munasinghe, D. H. N.; Burridge, C. P. & Austin, C. M. (2004). "The systematics of freshwater crayfish of the genus Cherax Erichson (Decapoda: Parastacidae) in eastern Australia re-examined using nucleotide sequences from 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes" (PDF). Invertebrate Systematics. 18 (2): 215–225. doi:10.1071/IS03012 – via ResearchGate.
Polhemus, Dan A.; Englund, Ronald A. & Allen, Gerald R. (2004). Freshwater Biotas of New Guinea and Nearby Islands: Analysis of Endemism (PDF) (Report). Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Conservation International.
Patoka, Jiří; Bláha, Martin; Kouba, Antonín (2017). "Cherax acherontis (Decapoda: Parastacidae), the first cave crayfish from the Southern Hemisphere (Papua Province, Indonesia)". Zootaxa. 4363 (1): 137–144. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4363.1.7. PMID 29245414.
Blaszczak-Boxe, Agata (13 May 2015). "Mysterious beautiful blue crayfish is new species from Indonesia". New Scientist. No. 3021. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
"Crayfish". www.dept.psu.edu. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
Aquiloni, L. & Gherardi, F. (2008). "Mutual mate choice in crayfish: Large body size is selected by both sexes, virginity by males only". Journal of Zoology. 274 (2): 171–179. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00370.x. hdl:2158/252681. S2CID 84513148.
Berry, Fiona C. & Breithaupt, Thomas (2010). "To signal or not to signal? Chemical communication by urine-borne signals mirrors sexual conflict in crayfish". BMC Biology. 8 (1): 25. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-8-25. PMC 2867775. PMID 20353555.
Barki, Assaf & Karplus, Ilan (1999). "Mating Behavior and a Behavioral Assay for Female Receptivity in the Red-claw Crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 19 (3): 493–497. doi:10.2307/1549258. JSTOR 1549258.
Bywater, C. L.; Angilletta, M. J. & Wilson, R. S. (2008). "Weapon Size Is a Reliable Indicator of Strength and Social Dominance in Female Slender Crayfish (Cherax dispar)". Functional Ecology. 22 (2): 311–316. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01379.x.
Fetzner, James W., Jr. (11 January 2010). "Genus Cherax Erichson, 1846". Crayfish Taxon Browser. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
"Cherax". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
Patoka, Jiří; Bláha, Martin & Kouba, Antonín (2015). "Cherax (Astaconephrops) gherardii, a new crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae) from West Papua, Indonesia". Zootaxa. 3964 (5): 526–536. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3964.5.2. PMID 26249463.
Patoka, Jiří; Bláha, Martin & Kouba, Antonín (2015). "Cherax (Cherax) subterigneus, a new crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae) from West Papua, Indonesia". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 35 (6): 830–838. doi:10.1163/1937240x-00002377.
Dockterman, Eliana (25 August 2015). "New species of crayfish named after Edward Snowden". Time. Retrieved 25 August 2015.