New yabby named

A new species of yabby has been officially identified and named.

But it’s been a long process identifying the new species after an exoskeleton belonging to a larger freshwater crayfish variety was discovered in Lake Nillahcootie between Benalla and Mansfield in 1993.

Tarmo Raadik from the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research along with Robert Mccormack from Australian Aquatic Biological also discovered the species existed in the Barmah Forest area, which they were able to link with the Lake Nillahcootie find.

The new species is called Cherax latimanus and is commonly known as the swamp yabby.

It can be found in clay soil burrows in the Goulburn-broken and Ovens River catchments.

Cherax latimanus differs from a common yabby with its larger and wider claws and a spine that grows out on top of its eyes.

New species: The swamp yabby is distinguished from its more common cousin by its larger claws.