Orconectes maletae

Kisatchie painted crawfish are brown or olive with red, blue, and white to yellow markings.[4] The red is mainly on the central joints of the pereiopods, the postorbital ridges, and a little on the posterior margins of the uropods (tail fins) and abdominal segments.[4] The fingers of the long, stout chelae (claws) are in order from tip to base, red, yellow/cream, blue, and greenish brown/brown.[4]

Its cephalothorax is about 40 millimetres (1.6 in) long,[4] to a maximum of 4.4 centimetres (1.7 in).[5] The rostrum (beak) is acuminate and has lateral spines.[4] It has a closed areola (the hourglass shaped lines on the back).[4]

It is very similar to Orconectes difficilis difficilis but has a central projection that is longer and more curved, with a more smoothly curved expanded mesial process.[3][5] It can be distinguished from O. palmeri by its shorter gonopods[5] (which may reach the third coxa) and a shorter and stouter central projection.[3] It is fairly indistinguishable from O. blacki except that form I (breeding) males have an apex of their first pleopod (swimming leg) that is slender, long, and curved.[4] They only have simple copulatory hooks on their third legs.[5] It is also unique among members of its clade for having a structure like a sulcus caused by a single cephalomedian (anterior) prominence.[6]

Form I males are found in low-water conditions between June and October, peaking in September–October.[5] Males have mating plugs in October.[5] Kisatchie painted crawfish reproduce with the male depositing sperm into an external receptacle under the female's abdomen.[4] She then fertilizes her eggs as she excretes them.[4] Both eggs and hatchlings remain with the mother, held under her body by her pleopods until they are big enough to swim and crawl without assistance.[4] June and July are when juveniles are most commonly found.[5]

O. maletae prefers clear flowing streams with sandy bottoms and plenty of plant litter and rocks.[1] Occasionally it found in reed beds.[1]

It eats carrion and plants.[4]

The Kisatchie painted crayfish has a very restricted and fragmented range.[1] It has been found in Rapides,[2] Natchitoches,[7] and Sabine Parishes, Louisiana;[4][5] Upshur,[3] Titus, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, and Marion Counties, Texas;[7] Pittsburg and Latimer Counties, Oklahoma; and Washington County, Arkansas.[1] By river, it is found in Bayou Teche, Kisatchie Bayou,[4] tributaries of the Red River of the South,[5] and in Cypress Creek.[1] There is also evidence of it interbreeding with O. d. difficilis in Coal County, Oklahoma.[3] Some consider the observations in Louisiana to be of O. hathawayi[1] or O. blacki[2] and not O. maletae.

Phylogenetic study of the Texas populations indicate they are distinct genetically, perhaps even a separate cryptic species.[7] The populations also inhabited separate ecological niches, which may further drive speciation.[7]

Kisatchie painted crayfish are susceptible to increased sediment in the water, particularly related to agricultural runoff and logging.[1] The loss of shade from their practices also negatively impacts the animal.[4] Habitat destruction is specifically a concern in Louisiana,[8] where local extinction has happened.[1] With this and the disjointed range of the species,[8] the population is in decline.[1][7]

In 1996 the species was listed by the IUCN Red List as being vulnerable, but as of 2010 it is listed as data deficient.[1] NatureServe rated the species as G2 (imperiled) in 2009.[2] The American Fisheries Society rated it "Threatened" in 2007.[8]

O. maletae is in the Hespericambarus subgenus of Orconectes, originally described by Joseph F. Fitzpatrick Jr..[6] The name derives from the Latin hesperius (literally 'western') and cambarus[6] (lit. 'shrimp'). Members of Hespericambarus include:[6]

• Hathawayi group
  • O. perfectus
  • O. hathawayi
  • O. blacki
• Difficilis group
  • O. maletae
  • O. difficilis

• Data related to Orconectes maletae at Wikispecies