Kisatchie Painted Crayfish

Kisatchie painted crawfish are brown or olive with red, blue, and white to yellow markings. The red is mainly on the central joints of the pereiopods, the postorbital ridges, and a little on the posterior margins of the uropods (tail fins) and abdominal segments. The fingers of the long, stout chelae (claws) are in order from tip to base, red, yellow/cream, blue, and greenish brown/brown. Its cephalothorax is about 40 millimetres (1.6 in) long, to a maximum of 4.4 centimetres (1.7 in). The rostrum (beak) is acuminate and has lateral spines. It has a closed areola (the hourglass shaped lines on the back). It is very similar to Faxonius difficilis but has a central projection that is longer and more curved, with a more smoothly curved expanded mesial process. It can be distinguished from F. palmeri by its shorter gonopods (which may reach the third coxa) and a shorter and stouter central projection. It is fairly indistinguishable from F. hathawayi blacki except that form I (breeding) males have an apex of their first pleopod (swimming leg) that is slender, long, and curved. They only have simple copulatory hooks on their third legs. It is also unique among members of its clade for having a structure like a sulcus caused by a single cephalomedian (anterior) prominence.

F. maletae prefers clear flowing streams with sandy bottoms and plenty of plant litter and rocks. Occasionally it found in reed beds. It eats carrion and plants.

Form I males are found in low-water conditions between June and October, peaking in September–October. Males have mating plugs in October. Kisatchie painted crawfish reproduce with the male depositing sperm into an external receptacle under the female's abdomen. She then fertilizes her eggs as she excretes them. Both eggs and hatchlings remain with the mother, held under her body by her pleopods until they are big enough to swim and crawl without assistance. June and July are when juveniles are most commonly found.