Research Article |
Corresponding author: Alireza Zamani ( zamani.alireza5@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Danilo Harms
© 2022 Alireza Zamani, Ghassan A. Ali Al-Yacoub, Shurooq Abdullah Najim.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Zamani A, Al-Yacoub GAA, Abdullah Najim S (2022) New data on Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) of Iraq. Evolutionary Systematics 6(2): 143-150. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.6.87158
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New faunistic data are provided on the ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) of Iraq. Three genera (Haplodrassus Chamberlin, 1922; Minosiella Dalmas, 1921; Odontodrassus Jézéquel, 1965) and six species (Haplodrassus dalmatensis (L. Koch, 1866); Minosiella intermedia Denis, 1958; Odontodrassus aravaensis Levy, 1999; Odontodrassus mundulus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872); Pterotricha dalmasi Fage, 1929; Zelotes fagei Denis, 1955) are reported in Iraq for the first time, and the previously unknown female of Pterotricha kovblyuki Zamani & Marusik, 2018 is described. In addition, a list of all gnaphosids reported from Iraq (16 spp.) is provided.
Faunistics, ground spiders, Middle East, new record, taxonomy
Gnaphosidae Banks, 1892, with more than 2400 extant species in 144 genera, is a very large family of spiders occurring worldwide (
Specimens were photographed using a Canon EOS 7D camera attached to an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope at the Zoological Museum of the University of Turku, or a Sony Alpha 7R II camera attached to an Amscope stereomicroscope at the Department of Ecology of the University of Basrah. Digital images were montaged using CombineZP. Information regarding the distribution ranges are modified after
ALE anterior lateral eye;
AME anterior median eye;
PLE posterior lateral eye;
PME posterior median eye.
Family Gnaphosidae Banks, 1892
Genus Gnaphosa Latreille, 1804
IRAQ: Thi Qar Province: 1♀ (
West Palaearctic.
In Iraq, G. dolosa was previously reported from Al-Qadisiyah Province (
Genus Haplodrassus Chamberlin, 1922
IRAQ: Najaf Province: 1♀ (
West Palaearctic.
This is the first record of the genus Haplodrassus in Iraq.
Genus Marinarozelotes Ponomarev, 2020
IRAQ: Thi Qar Province: 2♀ (
North Africa to the Caucasus, Iran, Russia (Europe) to Central Asia. Introduced to Hawaii, USA, Mexico, South Africa, India, China, Japan.
In Iraq, it was previously reported from Baghdad Province (
A small genus, with seven known species known from Greece, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia (
IRAQ: Thi Qar Province: 2♀ (
Egypt to Afghanistan.
New record for Iraq. For discussions regarding the possible synonymy of this species with Minosiella pallida (L. Koch, 1875) see
A small genus, with eight known species displaying a disjunct distribution: four species have been reported from West and North Africa and the Middle East, while others are known from the Oriental realm, Eastern Palaearctic and a few South Pacific islands (
IRAQ: Thi Qar Province: 2♂ (
Previously known from Egypt and Israel.
New record for Iraq, with the current material representing the easternmost record of the species across its known range.
IRAQ: Najaf Province: 1♂ (
New record for Iraq, with the current material representing the easternmost record of the species across its known range.
Genus Pterotricha Kulczyński, 1903
IRAQ: Najaf Province: 3♂ (
North Africa and the Middle East.
New record for Iraq. Previously, this species was only provisionally recorded from Iran based on a single female specimen (
The females of this species were described for the first time by Levy (1995), who provided figures of two “forms” of the epigyne (Levy 1995: figs 74–75). In our opinion and based on material from Iraq, Iran and UAE, only the form illustrated on fig. 75 is correctly matched with the male of P. dalmasi, and the one illustrated on fig. 74 belongs to another (perhaps undescribed) species.
IRAQ: Najaf Province: 14♂1♀ (
The female of P. kovblyuki differs from that of P. dalmasi by the round anterior hood (Ah) (vs. subdivided by a median pointed protrusion; Fig.
Female. Habitus as in Fig.
Epigyne as in Fig.
Male. See
Iraq, Iran and United Arab Emirates.
In Iraq, it was previously reported from Thi Qar Province (
Genus Zelotes Gistel, 1848
IRAQ: Najaf Province: 1♀ (
Previously known from Niger, Egypt and Israel.
New record for Iraq, with the current material representing the easternmost record of the species across its known range.
Epigynes of Pterotricha dalmasi Fage, 1929 (A–C) and Pterotricha kovblyuki Zamani & Marusik, 2018 (D–F). A, D. intact epigyne, ventral view; B, E. macerated epigyne, ventral view; C, F. vulva, dorsal view. Abbreviations: Ag – accessorial gland; Ah – anterior hood; Ld – lateral duct; Lm – lateral margin; Re – receptacle.
As a result of this paper, three genera and six species of Gnaphosidae were reported in Iraq for the first time, and the previously unknown female of Pterotricha kovblyuki Zamani & Marusik, 2018 was described. Of the studied material, the records of three species (Odontodrassus aravaensis, Odontodrassus mundulus, Zelotes fagei) represent the easternmost limits in the distribution of the corresponding species, and that of P. kovblyuki represents the westernmost limit within its known range.
Species | Records in Iraq | Distribution | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Berlandina mesopotamica Al-Khazali, 2020 | Thi Qar ( |
Iraq, Iran |
2 | Gnaphosa dolosa Herman, 1879 | Al-Qadisiyah, Basrah, Thi Qar ( |
West Palaearctic |
3 | Haplodrassus dalmatensis (L. Koch, 1866) | Najaf (present study) | West Palaearctic |
4 | Marinarozelotes jaxartensis (Kroneberg, 1875) | Baghdad, Thi Qar ( |
North Africa to the Caucasus, Iran, Russia (Europe) to Central Asia |
5 | Micaria sp. | Karbala ( |
– |
6 | Minosiella intermedia Denis, 1958 | Basrah, Thi Qar (present study) | Egypt to Afghanistan |
7 | Nomisia conigera (Spassky, 1941) | Dohuk ( |
Middle East to Tajikistan |
8 | Odontodrassus aravaensis Levy, 1999 | Thi Qar (present study) | Egypt, Israel, Iraq |
9 | Odontodrassus mundulus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) | Najaf (present study) | North Africa to the Levant, Iraq |
10 | Pterotricha arzhantsevi Fomichev, Marusik & Koponen, 2018 | Dohuk ( |
Iraq |
11 | Pterotricha dalmasi Fage, 1929 | Najaf (present study) | North Africa, the Middle East |
12 | Pterotricha esyunini Zamani, 2018 | Thi Qar ( |
UAE, Iraq |
13 | Pterotricha kovblyuki Zamani & Marusik, 2018 | Thi Qar, Najaf ( |
UAE, Iraq, Iran |
14 | Zelotes fagei Denis, 1955 | Najaf (present study) | Niger, Egypt, Israel, Iraq |
15 | Zelotes subterraneus (C.L. Koch, 1833) | Thi Qar ( |
West Palaearctic |
16 | Zelotes sp. | Baghdad, Karbala ( |
– |
Currently, there are 16 species of 10 genera of Gnaphosidae known from Iraq, two of them identified only at the genus-level (Table
Map of collection localities in Iraq: Basrah, Aboskhair (orange star); Basrah, Qarmat Ali (yellow star); Najaf, Ash Shabakah (green square); Thi Qar, Al Azraq (red circle); Thi Qar, Ur (purple circle).
Almost all species records of Gnaphosidae from Iraq are based on singleton hand-collected specimens, published in scattered papers often recording only one species from the country. As evident from the amount of new data obtained only from five localities in southern Iraq (Fig.
We are grateful to Petr Baňař (