Curator of Crustaceans

John.Cooper@naturalsciences.org [2]
919.707.8862

Ph.D. (Zoology, ecology), University of Kentucky, 1975
M.S. (Zoology), University of Kentucky, 1968
B.A. (Biological science; minor in literature and writing), 1957, Johns Hopkins University

Research Interests

Research focus is on taxonomy and systematics of freshwater crayfish, with current emphasis on descriptions of new species from the southeastern United States, particularly North Carolina. A monograph on crayfishes of North Carolina, including species accounts, distribution maps, and illustrations, is in preparation.

Selected Publications

Cooper, J. E. 2011. Redescription and distribution of the crayfish, Procambarus (Ortmannicus) pearsei (Creaser, 1934)(Decapoda: Cambaridae), with notes on its biology [3]. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 124(1):9–22. (PDF [4])

Cooper, J. E. 2011. Giant river shrimps of the genus Macrobrachium (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) in North and South Carolina [5]. Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Science 127(2):176–178. (PDF [4])

Cooper, J. E., and J. E. Price. 2010. A new spinose crayfish of the genus Cambarus, subgenus Puncticambarus (Decapoda: Cambaridae), from South Carolina [6]. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 123(4):335–344. (PDF [4])

Cooper, J. E., and M. R. Cooper. 2010. Observations on the biology of the endangered stygobiotic shrimp Palaemonias alabamae, with notes on P. ganteri (Decapoda: Atyidae) [7]. Subterranean Biology 8–20. (PDF [4])

Cooper, J. E., and M. R. Cooper. 2010. Long–term mark–recapture studies of population sizes in the stygobiotic crayfishes (Decapoda: Cambaridae) of Shelta Cave, Alabama, USA [8]. Subterranean Biology 7:35–40. (PDF [4])

Complete Publications [9]

Unpublished checklists and keys

The following unpublished checklists and keys, completed by Dr. Cooper, are available online:

• Crayfish Fact Sheet [10] (Word document)
• Crayfishes in Maryland [11] (Word document)
• Crayfishes Occurring in North Carolina [12] (Word document)
• Freshwater Decapods in NCSM [13] (Word document)
• Hydrologic Unit Distributions of NC Crayfishes [14] (Word document)
• Physiographic Province Distributions of Crayfishes [15] (Word document)
• Provisional List of Crayfishes Occurring in Virginia [16] (Word document)
• Provisional List of South Carolina Crayfishes [17] (Word document)
• References NC Crayfishes [18] (Word document)
• Vernacular Names of North Carolina Crayfishes [19] (Word document)

Please contact Dr. Cooper [20] for information on obtaining the documents listed below, which are currently not available online.

• Chronology: Descriptions of North Carolina crayfishes
• Repositories of primary type specimens of indigenous North Carolina crayfishes, including type localities
• List of freshwater decapods in the catalogued crustacean collection of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
• Guide to crayfishes of the Cape Fear and Northeast Cape Fear River drainages
• Guide to crayfishes of the Little Tennessee River basin, North Carolina
• Guide to crayfishes of the Hiwassee River basin, North Carolina
• Guide to crayfishes of the Pee Dee River drainage (excluding the Yadkin River basin)
• Guide to crayfishes of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River drainages