{{Short description|Species of crayfish}} {{Speciesbox | image = Orconectes sheltae male.jpg | image_caption = Male | image2 = Orconectes sheltae female.jpg | image2_caption = Female | status = CR | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=Schuster, G.A.|author2= Taylor, C.A. |author3= Cordeiro, J. |name-list-style= amp |year= 2010 |title= ''Orconectes sheltae'' |article-number= e.T153962A4569540 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T153962A4569540.en|access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref> | status2 = G1 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name=NatureServe>{{cite web |title=''Orconectes sheltae'' |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.108909/Orconectes_sheltae |website=NatureServe Explorer An online encyclopedia of life |version=7.1|publisher=NatureServe|access-date=13 February 2023}}</ref> | genus = Orconectes | species = sheltae | authority = J. E. Cooper and M. R. Cooper, 1997 | synonyms = | synonyms_ref = }}
'''''Orconectes sheltae''''', the '''Shelta Cave crayfish''',<ref name=IUCN/> is a small, freshwater [[crayfish]] [[endemism|endemic]] to [[Alabama]] in the United States. It is a cave-dwelling species known from only one cave, [[Shelta Cave]] in [[Madison County, Alabama]]. This cave is also home to ''[[Orconectes australis|O. australis]]'' and ''[[Cambarus jonesi]]''.<ref name=IUCN/>
It was first discovered in 1963, before being formally described in 1997. The last cave survey to successfully locate the species was in 1988, and therefore it was considered as being extinct for over 30 years until its rediscovery in 2019.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Katherine E. Dooley|author2= K. Denise Kendall Niemiller|author3= Nathaniel Sturm|author4= Matthew L. Niemiller |name-list-style=amp |title= Rediscovery and phylogenetic analysis of the Shelta Cave Crayfish (''Orconectes sheltae'' Cooper & Cooper, 1997), a decapod (Decapoda, Cambaridae) endemic to Shelta Cave in northern Alabama, USA |journal= Subterranean Biology |doi=10.3897/subtbiol.43.79993 |language=en |volume=43 |pages=11–31 |issn=1314-2615|doi-access=free|date=20 May 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{Commons category-inline}}
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[[Category:Cambaridae]] [[Category:Cave crayfish]] [[Category:Freshwater crustaceans of North America]] [[Category:Crustaceans described in 1997]] [[Category:Endemic crustaceans of the United States]] [[Category:Endemic fauna of Alabama]]
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