Using genetic testing, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Assistant Curator Jim Fetzner (Section of Invertebrate Zoology) and collaborators discovered three new species of crayfish from the Licking and Kentucky River basins in Kentucky.
Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa, attracted local press coverage by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and WESA. The next step? Determine what level of protection these species need to survive in habitats that are increasingly dominated by human activities, such as mining and logging.