''Cambarus smilax'', the Greenbrier crayfish, is a

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

in the order

Decapoda The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is esti ...

, family Cambaridae, genus

Cambarus ''Cambarus'' is a large and diverse genus of crayfish from the United States and Canada. The adults range in size from about 5 centimeters (2 in) up to approximately 15 centimeters (6 in). Description The genus ''Cambarus'' is the se ...

. It is most closely related to ''

Cambarus robustus ''Cambarus robustus'', known generally as the robust crayfish or Big Water crayfish, is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae The Cambaridae are the largest of the four families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 Species. Most of ...

''. It is endemic to the

Greenbrier River The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, long,McNeel, William P. "Greenbrier River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. 2006. . in southeastern West Virginia ...

watershed in Pocahontas, Greenbrier, and Monroe counties in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. It gets its common name from the Greenbrier River. It was described as a new crayfish species in 2011.

References

Cambaridae Freshwater crustaceans of North America Crustaceans described in 2011 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{crayfish-stub