New 'giant' species of crayfish found in Tennessee Creek

Mark Memmott - 

"A new species of giant crayfish [has] literally crawled out from under a rock in Tennessee, proving that large new species of animals can be found in highly populated and well-explored places," Reuters reports.

Researchers Christopher Taylor and Guenter Schuster reveal the discovery in the latest issue of the Proceeding of the Biological Society of Washington (it costs $10 to buy the article). The Barbicambarus simmonsi is about 5 inches long — double the length of most crayfish in the region.

Taylor, from the University of Illinois, and Schuster, from Eastern Kentucky University, heard in the summer of 2009 about the possibility that a new species had been spotted in southern Tennessee by a scientist with the Tennessee Valley Authority. They headed to the area in October that year. And they almost didn't come up with anything.

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