Anosov S.E.1, Timofeev V.A.2 2016. Vanishing of an isolated population of thick-clawed crayfish Astacus pachypus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Astacidae) in the Sevastopol Bay (Crimean Peninsula, Black Sea) // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.25. No.1: 63–66 [in English].
1 Russian Federal Institute of Fishery and Oceanography (VNIRO), Verkhnyaya Krasnoselskaya, 17a, Moscow, 107140, Russia. E-mail: florarium@gmail.com
2 A.O. Kowalevsky Institute of Marine Biological research of Russian Academy of Sciences (IMBR RAS), Prospekt Nakhimova, 2, Sevastopol, 299011, Russia.
KEY WORDS: Thick-clawed crayfish, endangered species, habitat loss, estuary; Black Sea – Caspian region, Crimea.
ABSTRACT. In the XIX and XX centuries thick-clawed crayfish Astacus pachypus was reported for the Sevastopol area in Crimea. Nowadays significant changes of hydrolological conditions and substrates took place in the only possible locality where a population of this species could exist — inner part of the Sevastopol Bay and the mouth of River Chernaya. Biotopes characteristic for this place in the XIX century were lost. Since the conditions optimal for thick-clawed crayfish in the River Chernaya estuary are currently absent, this species most likely has vanished from the Sevastopol area.