Stone Mountain Fairy Shrimp (Dendrocephalus lithaca)

The Stone Mountain Fairy Shrimp was described in 1940, it is known to have inhabited little rock outcrop pools located on the summit of Stone Mountain, a giant granite rock near the city of Atlanta in Georgia, USA.

The species was only ever collected twice and was never found again since the 1950s, it is now considered extinct.

The rock pools still exist, they are now inhabited by Clam Shrimps (Eulimnadia graniticola Rogers et al.), which were only discovered and described as a new species in 2010. [1]

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Another fairy shrimp species, the Alachua Fairy Shrimp (Dendrocephalus alachua (Dexter)) from Alachua County, Florida, was also thought to be extinct, but was rediscovered in 2019. [1]

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References:

[1] D. Christopher Rogers; Ann Dunn; W. Wayne Price: A review of Dendrocephalus (Denrocephalinus) (Crustacea. Anostraca) with the first records of male-male anostracan aggressive competiotion. European Journal of Taxonomy 509: 1-4. 2019

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edited: 14.09.2019