Astacidae is a family of freshwater crayfish native to Europe and western North America. The family is made up of four extant (living) genera: The genera Astacus (which includes the European crayfish), Pontastacus (which includes the Turkish crayfish), and Austropotamobius are all found throughout Europe and parts of western Asia, while Pacifastacus is found on the Pacific coast of the United States and British Columbia and includes the signal crayfish and the Shasta crayfish.
Astacidae belongs to the superfamily Astacoidea, which contains all crayfish in the Northern Hemisphere. Astacoidea is the sister taxon to Parastacoidea, which contains all crayfish of the Southern Hemisphere. Crayfish and lobsters together comprise the infraorder Astacidea, as shown in the simplified cladogram below:[1][2][3]
Astacidea clawed lobsters Enoplometopoidea Nephropoidea crayfish Parastacoidea AstacoideaAstacidae
The internal phylogeny of Astacidae can be further shown in the cladogram below:[2]
AstacidaeThe family Astacidae contains the following genera and species:[2]
Astacidae is a family of freshwater crayfish native to Europe and western North America. The family is made up of four extant (living) genera: The genera Astacus (which includes the European crayfish), Pontastacus (which includes the Turkish crayfish), and Austropotamobius are all found throughout Europe and parts of western Asia, while Pacifastacus is found on the Pacific coast of the United States and British Columbia and includes the signal crayfish and the Shasta crayfish.
