A survey of East Palaearctic Hersiliola Thorell, 1870 (Araneae, Hersiliidae), with a description of three new genera

Abstract

Three new genera and eight new species of Hersiliidae are described from the East Palaearctic (Afganistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). The genus Hersiliola Thorell, 1870 (Araneae: Hersiliidae) is revised, and four new species are described. The genus includes nine species: H. afghanica Roewer, 1960 (Afghanistan); H. esyunini sp. n. (Uzbekistan); H. foordi sp. n. (Iran); H. lindbergi sp. n. (Afghanistan); H. macullulata (Dufour, 1831) (type species; from Spain and Algeria to Israel and Yemen); H. simoni (O.P.-Cambridge, 1872) (from Spain and Morocco to Israel); H. sternbergsi sp. n. (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan); H. versicolor (Blackwall, 1865) (Cape Verde); and H. xinjiangenis (Liang & Wang, 1989) (Xinjiang, China). A new genus Duninia gen. n. is described, with two new species, Duninia baehrae sp. n. (type species; Turkmenistan) and D. rheimsae sp. n. (Iran). A new genus Deltshevia gen. n. is described, with two new species, Deltshevia danovi sp. n. (type species; Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan) and D. gromovi sp. n. (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan). The widely ranging Central Asian Hersiliola pallida Kroneberg, 1875 (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) is transferred to a new monotypic genus, Ovtsharenkoia gen. n.