Engaeus lyelli
Keith A. CrandallTypes
Lectotype (designated by Riek 1979), Museum of Victoria, Melbourne J904 (male); paralectotype, Museum of Victoria, Melbourne J906 (male). One of Clark's types assumed to be lost (see Lew Ton & Poore 1987).Distribution
This species is found predominantly north of the Great Dividing Range from the Grampian Ranges in the west to near Myrtleford in the east; it has not been found in New South Wales or South Australia and does not appear to extend far from the foothills of the Great Dividing Ranges in Victoria (although its northwards range has not been thoroughly investigated). The distribution is characterised by distinct gaps in its range, with gaps occuring between Moyston and Beaufort, in the Lerderderg River drainage region (where no species of Engaeus have been found), between Ballarat and Daylesford (where only E. merosetosus can be found) and in the Seymour-Yea region (although this gap may be due to insufficient sampling).Habitat
E. lyelli is most usually found in type 1b burrows in the banks of creeks or billabongs in dry sclerophyll forest. However the assessment of whether the burrows are connected to the surface water or not (or in other words whether the burrows are connected to the surface water or not (or in other words whether they should be called type 1a, 1b or 2) depends on the height of the water-table at the time of sampling, and this is particularly so for this species since it occurs where the water-table may show marked fluctuations. For instance at the site near Gisborne, in late May 1982 (in a drought year), many animals could be found in short burrows under rocks in the dry river bed and in the banks. In a subsequent visit in September 1983, the river was high and flowing fast, well above the height of the burrows sampled the previous year. Under these circumstances an estimate of the mean level of the water is made and then the burrows are assessed.References
Clark, E. 1936. The freshwater and land crayfishes of Australia. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria 10, 5-58.
Horwitz, Pierre. 1990. A Taxonomic Revision of Species in the Freshwater Crayfish Genus Engaeus Erichson (Decapoda: Parastacidae). Invertebr. Taxon., 1990, 4, 427-614.
Lew Ton, H. M., and G. C. B. Poore. 1987. Types of Parastacidae (Crustacea: Decapoda) held in the Museum of Victoria. Occasional Papers from the Museum of Victoria 3, 21-29.
Riek, E. F. 1969. The Australian freshwater crayfish (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parastacidae). With descriptions of new species. Australian Journal of Zoology 17, 855-918.
About This Page
Page constructed by Emily Browne.
Keith A. Crandall
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
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Engaeus lyelli .
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Crandall, Keith A. 2001. Engaeus lyelli . Version 01 January 2001 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Engaeus_lyelli/7835/2001.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
