New spider species named after curator | Danni Sherwood | Manchester Museum

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New spider species named after curator | Danni Sherwood | Manchester Museum Two newly described spider species have been named in honour of members of our Entomology team, recognising their support for spider research at the Museum. Colombiarachne dianae, a tarantula from the Chocó region of Colombia, is named after our Curator of Entomology, Diana Arzuza Buelvas. Titanidiops logunovi, a trapdoor spider from Galegu, Sudan, is named after Dmitri Logunov. The names were chosen by one of our favourite frequent visitors, the amazing spider researcher Danni Sherwood. As Danni put it: "It’s a small token of my appreciation for all the help you give me in Manchester!" It's a wonderful reminder that behind every scientific discovery is a community of people helping to make research possible. Congratulations to Diana and Dmitri on this very special honour! 

New data on zodariid spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean

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New data on zodariid spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

Although taxonomic research on zodariid spiders has a long history, the identification of many species has remained challenging due to insufficient documentation. In this study, we revisit 50 zodariid species from the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. For each taxon examined, we provide detailed photographic documentation of somatic and copulatory structures to facilitate future taxonomic investigations. Seven new species from three different genera are described: Lachesana gavishae Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂♀, Israel), L. lubinae Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂♀, Israel), Pax akilae Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂♀, Syria), Zodarion jakubi Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂♀, Oman), Z. levyi Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂♀, Israel and Syria), Z. milani Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂, Syria), and Z. zonsteini Shafaie & Pekár sp. nov. (♂, Cyprus and Israel). Re-examination of the Z. nicki type specimen confirms its distinction from Z. nitidum, and we provide redescriptions of both sexes of Z. nitidum. Additionally, the male of Z. nicki and the female of Z. namrun are described here for the first time. We revalidate Z. tunetiacum and designate a neotype based on newly examined material. Two new synonymies are also proposed: Acanthinozodium crateriferum syn. nov. is synonymized with A. tibesti, and Z. kunti syn. nov. is synonymized with A. odem. Furthermore, we report ten new country records: A. odem (Syria), A. tibesti (Egypt), Z. abantense (Greece), Z. granulatum (Syria), Z. karpathos (Turkey), Z. morosum (Syria), Z. reticulatum (Turkey), Z. rhodiense (Cyprus, Syria), Z. thoni (Iran, Greece), and Z. tunetiacum (Egypt).

Shafaie, S., Pekár, S. and Seyyar, O. (2025) “New data on zodariid spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean”, European Journal of Taxonomy, 1016(1), pp. 1-139. doi: 10.5852/ejt.2025.1016.3063.