A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction

  Photo Credit: © Antonino Rametta . All photographs are used with permission. No part of these images may be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without the prior written permission of the photographer. A Remarkable Discovery: Exploring a Rare Eresus and Spider Wasp Interaction One of the most rewarding aspects of maintaining Arácnido Taxonomy is hearing from naturalists and photographers around the world who take the time to share their discoveries. Every so often, an email arrives that immediately captures your attention. Not because it claims to rewrite what we know about biodiversity, but because it documents something that very few people have the opportunity to witness. Recently, I was contacted by a naturalist in Sicily who shared a series of exceptionally high-quality photographs of a female ladybird spider ( Eresus ) during what appeared to be an interaction with a spider wasp. Along with the images came a simple question: "Could this be scientifically import...

Description of a new species of Zodarion Walckenaer (Araneae: Zodariidae) from Turkey

 


Description of a new species of Zodarion Walckenaer (Araneae: Zodariidae) from Turkey

Introduction

Zodariidae Thorell, commonly known as ant-eating spiders, is one of the most diverse spider families, comprising over 1300 species across 90 genera (World Spider Catalog Citation2026). Members of the family are distributed worldwide, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions (World Spider Catalog Citation2026). Within this large family, the genus Zodarion Walckenaer, is represented by 176 species (World Spider Catalog Citation2026). Currently, 157 Zodarion species are known from Europe (Nentwig et alCitation2026). In Turkey, the family Zodariidae comprises 37 species in four genera. Most of them, 34 species, belong to the genus Zodarion (Danışman et al.Citation2025). Within the genus, eight species of the ‘germanicum’ species group are found in Turkey: Zodarion abantense Wunderlich, Z. bigaense Bosmans, Özkütük, Varlı, and Kunt, Z. bozdagensis Coşar, Z. korgei Wunderlich, Z. izmirense Danışman and Coşar, Z. robertbosmans Wunderlich, Z. turcicum Wunderlich and Z. varoli Akpınar.

This article aims to describe and illustrate a new species from Turkey, found in Hakkari province in the Eastern Anatolia region. Its distribution is also presented.

Coşar, İ., Danışman, T., & Yağmur, E. A. (2026). Description of a new species of Zodarion Walckenaer (Araneae: Zodariidae) from Turkey. Journal of Natural History, 60(25–28), 1447–1452. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2026.2675403