Everything about Parastacidae totally explained
Parastacidae is the
family of
freshwater crayfish found in the
southern hemisphere. The family is a classic
Gondwana-distributed taxon, with
extant members in
South America,
Madagascar,
Australia,
New Zealand and
New Guinea, and
extinct taxa also in
Antarctica.
Three genera are to be found in
Chile,
Virilastacus,
Samastacus and
Parastacus, the last of which also occurs
disjunctly in southern
Brazil.
There are no crayfish native to continental
Africa, but six species on
Madagascar, all of the genus
Astacoides.
Australasia is particularly rich in crayfish. The small genus
Paranephrops is
endemic to
New Zealand (
Huxley claims that
Paranephrops also occurs in
Fiji ). Two genera,
Astacopsis and
Parastacoides are endemic to
Tasmania, while a further two are found on either side of the
Bass Strait -
Geocharax and
Engaeus. The greatest diversity, however, is found on the Australian
mainland. Three genera are endemic and have restricted distributions (
Engaewa,
Gramastacus and
Tenuibranchiurus), while two are more widespread and contain nearly ninety species between them:
Euastacus, around the Australian coast from
Melbourne to
Brisbane, and
Cherax across Australia and New Guinea.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Parastacidae'.
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