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Four new species of Tegenaria Latreille 1804 and one Maimuna Lehtinen 1967 from Turkey and Caucasus

Dlium Four new species of Tegenaria Latreille 1804 and one Maimuna Lehtinen 1967 from Turkey and Caucasus

NEWS - Antalya funnel weaver (Maimuna antalyensis sp. nov. ♂♀; Turkish: Antalya), Francesco Ballarin funnel weaver (Tegenaria ballarini sp. nov. ♂♀; Turkish: Antalya), small pale funnel weaver (Tegenaria beyazcika sp. nov. ♂; Turkish: Antalya), Egrisi funnel weaver (Tegenaria egrisiana sp. nov. ♂♀; Georgia: Imereti), and Hubert Höfer funnel weaver (Tegenaria hoeferi sp. nov. ♂♀; Armenia: Kotayk) are reported as new to science.

Agelenidae C.L. Koch 1837 is a large spider family comprising 1,405 species in 96 genera worldwide. In the Western Palearctic, Turkey has the highest diversity of Agelenids with 74 documented species. Other regions in the Western Palearctic are still largely understudied, for example in the Caucasus 36 species in 10 genera have been recorded, but only 3 species have been reported from Armenia and 18 from Georgia.

Now the researchers present the description of 4 new species of Tegenaria Latreille 1804 and 1 new species of Maimuna Lehtinen 1967, the synonymization of Tegenaria lazarovi Dimitrov 2020, the presence of embolic spines in Tegenaria anhela Brignoli 1972 and some new faunal data for agelenids in Turkey and Armenia.

Maimuna antalyensis is similar to M. cariae Brignoli 1978 in the overall shape of the copulatory organ. Males differ in having a shorter cymbium tip, as long as the palpal tibia (vs. longer in M. cariae) and a different shape of the conductor and median process. Females have a hexagonal epigynal fovea, in contrast to the subtriangular fovea of M. cariae.

Tegenaria ballarini is closely related to Tegenaria vankeerorum Bolzern, Burckhardt & Hänggi 2013 and has very similar copulatory organs, especially the male palps. Males of T. ballarini differ in having relatively longer palpal tibia and a retrolateral apophysis (Rl) located at the distal part of the tibia, rather than at the midpoint.

Females differ from all other species in having a pair of longitudinal scuta (Sl) anterior to the epigynal plate and a straight posterior margin of the epigyne. In addition, the vulva has a relatively longer copulatory canal that almost reaches the anterior margin of the receptacle (vs. only reaching the middle of the receptacle in T. vankeerorum).

Tegenaria beyazcika belongs to the Ariadnae species group and is most similar to Tegenaria averni Brignoli 1978. Males have a thickened male palpal femur with four strong dorsal spines, an almost straight embolus on the prolateral side (vs. rounded curved in T. averni), a relatively shorter tibia with a length/width ratio of 2.5 (vs. 2.9) and a conductor with less equal arms (vs. a distal arm that is longer than the proximal arm).

Tegenaria egrisiana is very similar to Tegenaria pallens Zamani & Marusik 2023 from Iran in the overall shape of the copulatory organ. However, males have a shorter cymbium tip, ~0.7 length of palpal tibia (vs. as long as palpal tibia in T. pallens), blunt conductor tip (vs. pointed and curved), embolus base positioned at 9:00 o'clock (vs. 8:30 o'clock), embolus tip ending at ~2:00 o'clock and median apophysis (Ma) with different shape.

Females of the new species differ from T. pallens in having an epigynal plate that is almost twice as wide as it is long (vs. >3× wider than long in T. pallens), having a distinct median plate (vs. absent) and a small rectangular fovea (vs. oval).

Tegenaria hoeferi belongs to the abchasica species group and is most similar to Tegenaria chumachenkoi Kovblyuk & Ponomarev 2008. Males differ in the shape of the median apophysis which is proximally prominent and tapering broadly retrolaterally (vs. straight proximally and tapering sharply retrolaterally in T. chumachenkoi).

Females of the new species have an oval median plate that is ~2x as wide as it is long (vs. a median plate that is not oval and is approximately the same length as it is wide in T. chumachenkoi).

Original research

Zamani A, Kaya RS, Marusik YuM (2024). New taxonomic and faunistic data on the funnel-weavers (Araneae, Agelenidae) of Turkiye and the Caucasus, with five new species. ZooKeys 1218: 251-286, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1218.135249

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