Here’s a photo that Mike took that will always have a special place in my crayfish and worm-riddled noggin: Cambarus franklini, the South Mountains Crayfish. This was the first species that Mike, me, and our colleague TR Russ (NCWRC) teamed up to describe in 2019 (Zootaxa 4568 (3): 520-532). It’s a NC narrow endemic. This was our first description together, but will certainly not be the last! #crayfish #crustmas #25DaysofCrustmas #crustacea

Several years ago, my colleague and collaborator, Michael A. Perkins (North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission) put together a slick specimen photo setup that we have been using to capture publication-quality images of the crayfishes of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and beyond. The imaging “torch” is now being passed to me; I can only hope to do a fraction as well as Mike! 😬
Regardless, I just want to show off some of Mike’s photos.
#25DaysofCrustmas #crayfish #crustmas

Here’s the reported “fiddler crab on steroids.” Now, although not a fiddler - it’s a blue land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi - I will admit that I would be startled hearing scratching at my office door, opening it to find this not-small asymmetrically-clawed crustacean. A museum curator’s job is never dull. #crustmas #crustacea #crustaceans #crabs #collection #CollectionsCare #digitization #25daysofcrustmas #malacostraca #museumspecimen #decapoda

Here’s the reported “fiddler crab on steroids.” Now, although not a fiddler - it’s a blue land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi - I will admit that I would be startled hearing scratching at my office door, opening it to find this not-small asymmetrically-clawed crustacean. A museum curator’s job is never dull. #crustmas #crustacea #crustaceans #crabs #collection #CollectionsCare #digitization #25daysofcrustmas #malacostraca #museumspecimen

Every so often we stumble across a specimen record that makes us laugh for days. This is one of them. We recently acquired the South Carolina DNR’s Southeast Regional Taxonomic Center marine collection, and are working to integrate the metadata into our database. #crabs #crustacea #crustaceans #MuseumCollections #museum #CollectionsCare #curation #crustmas #25daysofcrustmas #malacostraca

@msrosenberg great one, there's also the hashtags #Crustmas #25DaysOfCrustmas for crustaceans this month

Time to bring #Crustmas #25DaysOfCrustmas to this website. @franzanth posted each of his fossil crab reconstructions individually but why not look at them all together?

Or buy them from Franz here: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/129239088