Cherax snowden: Indonesian Green Orange Crayfish Honors Edward Snowden

Summary: Cherax snowden, a bright orange-and-green freshwater crayfish from Indonesia's West Papua Province on New Guinea, is a new species honoring Edward Snowden.

male Cherax snowden ~ green, orange, and yellow morph with orange tips from West Papua Province's Oinsok River Drainage: Christian Lukhaup, CC BY 4.0, via Pensoft ZooKeys

Cherax snowden sp. n. (species nova) is a newly named species native to the Indonesian province of West Papua in northwestern New Guinea. The large South West Pacific island is equally divided between the Republic of Indonesia and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

The brightly colored crayfish claims Sawiat District’s Oinsok River Drainage in South Sorong Regency (Sorong Selatan) of central Kepala Burung (Dutch: Vogelkop; English: Bird’s Head) Peninsula as specific homeland.

Cherax snowden was misidentified with another West Papuan crayfish, Cherax holthuisi, described by crayfish researchers Christian Lukhaup and Reinhard Pekny in 2006. Discovery of different homelands -- with Cherax holthuisi only found in the wild in South Sorong Regency’s Kais River Drainage -- and detection of additional differences in coloring, DNA, shape of rostrum (protective spike beyond eyes) and pincers (chelae) necessitated establishing a new species.

The addition of Cherax snowden increases to 56 the number of species within Cherax, the Southern Hemisphere's largest and most widely distributed, fully aquatic crayfish genus.

As an admirer of former U.S. NSA (National Security Agency) contractor Edward Snowden (born June 21, 1983), Christian Lukhaup, researcher at Berlin’s Humbold University, presented the new species name on Aug. 24, 2015, in a research article co-authored with Jörn Panteleit and Anne Schrimpf of University Koblenz-Landau and published online by ZooKeys.

The German researcher analogizes the new species to the “American freedom fighter” accordingly: with an extremely hard protective shell and tiny but effective pincers, a powerful species that evades enemies by hiding under rocks and emerging at night.

Because of their vivid coloration, Christian Lukhaup has ornamented Cherax snowden with the common names of Green Orange Tip and Orange Tip. Cherax snowden also is known as snowden crayfish.

Apparently endemic to tributary creeks of the Oinsok River, Cherax snowden lives in clear, shallow water characteristically devoid of water plants. Rocky creek beds are covered with rocks, silt and stones.

male Cherax snowden ~ holotype (specimen upon which description is based) selected from six crayfish received in April 2015 shipment from Garnelio, online freshwater invertebrate store based in Mannheim, southwestern Germany: Christian Lukhaup, CC BY 4.0, via Pensoft ZooKeys

The brightly ornamented freshwater crayfish reaches lengths of 2.7 to 3.97 inches (69 to 101 millimeters) in male specimens. Measurement of a female yielded a length of 3.03 inches (77 millimeters).

Coloring primarily emphasizes green and orange. Pincers (chelae) are green-themed, varying from light to dark or green grey, and end with dramatic orange tips. The cephalothorax presents a range of green, from light to dark to bluish or brown. The abdomen, which mirrors the upper body’s coloring, also features transverse orange bands. Walking legs vary from dark green to blue grey or creamy to brownish yellow. The tail-fan has a cream-to-orange margin.

Collected in large numbers, Cherax snowden is popular as an ornamental for the global aquarium trade and as a food source for local West Papuans.

Cherax snowden’s describers express concern over decreasing numbers noted by collectors. They suggest the need for improved knowledge through further research as well as the necessity of possible conservation management plans, including a captive breeding program.

female Cherax snowden: greenish orange morph from unnamed tributary of West Papua Province’s Oinsok River Drainage: Christian Lukhaup, CC BY 4.0, via Pensoft ZooKeys

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

male Cherax snowden ~ holotype (specimen upon which description is based) selected from six crayfish received in April 2015 shipment from Garnelio, online freshwater invertebrate store based in Mannheim, southwestern Germany: Christian Lukhaup, CC BY 4.0, via Pensoft ZooKeys @ http://zookeys.pensoft.net//lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=zoom_figure&instance_id=12&article_id=6127

paratype female from unnamed tributary of West Papua Province’s Oinsok River Drainage: Christian Lukhaup, CC BY 4.0, via Pensoft ZooKeys @ http://zookeys.pensoft.net//lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=zoom_figure&instance_id=11&article_id=6127

paratype male from Oinsok River drainage: Christian Lukhaup, CC BY 4.0, via Pensoft ZooKeys @ http://zookeys.pensoft.net//lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=zoom_figure&instance_id=11&article_id=6127

For further information:

Izadi, Elahe. “There’s a new crayfish species and it’s named after Edward Snowden.” The Washington Post > News > Speaking of Science. Aug. 25, 2015.
Available @ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/08/25/theres-a-new-crayfish-species-and-its-named-after-edward-snowden/?utm_term=.bb265c79d335

Kawai, Tadashi; Zen Faulkes; Gerhard Scholtz, eds. Freshwater Crayfish: A Global Overview. Boca Raton FL: CRC Press, 2015.

Lukhaup, Christian; Jörn Panteleit; Anne Schrimpf. “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 (Aug. 24, 2015).
Available via Pensoft @ http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=6127&display_type=element&element_type=8&element_id=22877&element_name=

Steinke, Dirk. “A new crayfish: Cherax snowden.” One Species A Day > 2015. Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015.
Available @ http://onebugaday.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-new-crayfish-cherax-snowden.html