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DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES AND DESCRIPTION
As you can see in these photographs,
there are few distinctive markings
other than color. Even then, their
coloration can vary from red, reddish-
brown to olive-brown. One author
stated that females are olive-green
while males were "almost a salmon
red".
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I have not been able to
examine enough specimens to confirm
this but the specimen in the photo
below is a female which is an olive-
brown. The crayfish in the photo
above-right is a bright reddish-brown
and it is a male so there might be
something to the sex-related
coloration. As with all crayfishes,
their color is the lightest and brightest
after a molt which steadily gets darker
as algae and crud build up on their
carapace.
The key
identification
character of
the species is
the shape of
the first
pleopod of a
Form I male.
This one is
quite
distinctive
from the other Nebraska crayfishes in
that the pleopod is tipped with a series
of four short terminal elements. This
general shape is typical of
Procambarus of which this is the only
native species in Nebraska.
The two halves of the aureola of the
Prairie crayfish touch each other and
almost overlap.
The rostrum of
the Prairie
crayfish is
typical of
burrowing
crayfishes in
that it is short,
blunt and
