Posted 07 October 2007 - 10:33 AM
Without having it in hand, I disagree, mainly by experience in that part of the system, and knowing the hydrology present. I would say instead that it's the very closely related Orconectes immunis (papershell crayfish). I've yet to find virilis in the Maumee system outside the upper St. Joseph. I think the rest of the watershed is too warm and turbid for virilis, you only see immunis and P. acutus where prairie was the dominant land type (they can get quite abundant in those ditches), and they've been able to adjust to the hydrological changes. Otherwise, the system is completely run over (or perhaps more likely, "filled in") with rusticus.
Todd