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- Title
A field survey of the decapod crustaceans (Malacostraca: Decapoda) of the Pilliga Scrub in northern inland New South Wales.
- Authors
Murphy, Michael J.
- Abstract
The Pilliga Scrub is a large semi-arid woodland area in northern inland New South Wales with limited freshwater habitats and a frequent scarcity of surface water. A survey of the area's decapod crustacean fauna in 2009-2010 identified five species: the crayfish Cherax destructor (Parastacidae), crab Austrothelphusa transversa (Parathelphusidae), shrimps Caridina mccullochi and Paratya australiensis (Atyidae) and prawn Macrobrachium australiense (Palaemonidae). The decapod diversity is low at the species level but relatively high at the family level, and reflects the location of the Pilliga Scrub in a transitional zone between faunal assemblages of southern and northern Australia. Cherax destructor and Austrothelphusa transversa are well suited to the variable aquatic conditions in the Pilliga Scrub and can survive prolonged drought in burrows. Caridina mccullochi, Paratya australiensis and Macrobrachium australiense, in contrast, are dependent on surface water at all life cycle stages, and their survival in the Pilliga Scrub relies on the few small permanent waterholes along larger intermittent streams or, if these dry out, re-colonisation from downstream perennial river channels during occasional stream flow events. An increase in aridity due to anthropogenic climate change could result in the local extinction of these three species, representing a 60% reduction in local decapod species diversity.
- Subjects
NEW South Wales; DECAPODA; FRESHWATER habitats; CRUSTACEA; PARASTACIDAE; ATYIDAE (Crustacea); MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.)
- Publication
Victorian Naturalist, 2011, Vol 128, Issue 3, p96
- ISSN
0042-5184
- Publication type
Article