A new and easternmost species of Loureedia (Aranei: Eresidae) from Iran

Abstract

A new species, Loureedia phoenixi sp.n., is described and illustrated on the basis of two male specimens from Alborz Province of Iran and its distribution is mapped based on the type locality and photographic records. These records represent the easternmost distribution limit of the genus.

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© ARTHROPODA SELECTA, 2020
Arthropoda Selecta 29(2): 239–243
A new and easternmost species of Loureedia (Aranei: Eresidae)
from Iran
Íîâûé è ñàìûé âîñòî÷íûé âèä ðîäà Loureedia (Aranei: Eresidae)
èç Èðàíà
Alireza Zamani1, Yuri M. Marusik2,3
À. Çàìàíè, Þ.Ì. Ìàðóñèê
1 Zoological Museum, Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, FI-20014, Finland. E-mail: zamani.alireza5@gmail.com
2 Institute for Biological Problems of the North RAS, Portovaya Str.18, Magadan, Russia. E-mail: yurmar@mail.ru
3 Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa.
2 Институт биологических проблем Севера ДВО РАН, Портовая 18, Магадан 685000 Россия.
KEY WORDS: Araneae, Middle East, velvet spiders.
КЛЮЧЕВЫЕ СЛОВА: Araneae, Ближний Восток, пауки-эрезиды.
new species and to compare the conductor morphology
of all species of the genus.
Material and methods
The holotype was photographed at the Zoological Muse-
um of the University of Turku, Finland, using an Olympus
Camedia E-520 camera attached to an Olympus SZX16
stereomicroscope. Digital images were stacked using Zerene
Stacker v 1.04. Length of leg and palp segments were mea-
sured on the dorsal side and are listed as: total length (femur,
patella, tibia, metatarsus, tarsus). All measurements are given
in millimetres. The type specimens will be deposited at the
Muséum d’histoire naturelle, Genève, Switzerland (MHNG).
Abbreviations: Eyes: ALE — anterior lateral eye,
AME — anterior median eye, PLE — posterior lateral eye,
PME — posterior median eye. Legs: Fe — femur, Pt —
patella, Ti — tibia, Mt — metatarsus, Ta — tarsus.
Taxonomy
Family Eresidae C.L. Koch, 1845
Genus Loureedia Miller, Griswold, Scharff, Řezáč,
Szűts et Marhabaie, 2012
Loureedia Miller et al., 2012: 81.
Loureedia: Henriques et al., 2018: 5.
TYPE SPECIES. Eresus annulipes Lucas, 1857, Patria
ignota [unknown site]
DIAGNOSIS. Males of Loureedia differ from those be-
longing to other genera by the strongly divergent branched
conductor, with the branches subequal to the conductor’s
stem length (vs. only the tip is branched or not branched).
Females of Loureedia cannot be distinguished from those of
Eresus.
COMPOSITION. Four species: L. annulipes (Lucas,
1857), L. colleni Henriques, Miñano et Pérez-Zarcos, 2018,
L. lucasi (Simon, 1873) and L. phoenixi sp.n.
ABSTRACT: A new species, Loureedia phoenixi
sp.n., is described and illustrated on the basis of two
male specimens from Alborz Province of Iran and its
distribution is mapped based on the type locality and
photographic records. These records represent the east-
ernmost distribution limit of the genus.
How to cite this article: Zamani A., Marusik Yu.M.
2020. A new and easternmost species of Loureedia
(Aranei: Eresidae) from Iran // Arthropoda Selecta.
Vol.29. No.2. P.239–243. doi: 10.15298/arthsel.
29.2.09
РЕЗЮМЕ. Описан новый Loureedia phoenixi sp.n.
на основе двух самцов из провинции Альборз. По-
казано его распространение: типовое местообита-
ние и локалитеты задокументированные по фото-
графиям. Новый вид существенно расширяет ареал
рода на восток.
Introduction
Loureedia Miller, Griswold, Scharff, Řezáč, Szűts
et Marhabaie, 2012 is a recently described genus with
three named species distributed in the Mediterranean,
from Morocco and Spain to Israel [WSC, 2020], all of
which have been surveyed by Henriques et al. [2018].
The genus is known from Iran based on unpublished
material and photographic records [Szűts et al., 2018;
Henriques et al., 2018]. We recently acquired two male
specimens of Loureedia from northern Iran. Examina-
tion of the male palp and comparison of the abdominal
pattern with those of other known species revealed it to
be an undescribed species. Until recently, only three
other species of Eresidae were known to occur in Iran:
one species of Eresus Walckenaer, 1805 and two spe-
cies of Stegodyphus Simon, 1873 [Zamani et al., 2020].
The goal of this paper is to provide a description of the

240 A. Zamani, Yu.M. Marusik
Fig. 1. Habitus of in vivo specimens of Loureedia phoenixi sp.n. Alborz Province: Karaj (N. Sheikh) (a) , Tehran Province: Pardisan
Park (A. Zamani) (b), Fars Province: Shiraz (Sh. Hesami) (c), Tehran Province: Kuhsar (B. Golavi) (d), Tehran Province: Rudehen (A.
Bolhari) (e) and Kerman Province: Shahr-e Babak (H. Asgari) (f).
Рис. 1. Внешний вид in vivo самцов Loureedia phoenixi sp.n. Провинция Альборз: Karaj (фото N. Sheikh) (a); провинция
Тегеран: Pardisan Park (фото A. Zamani) (b), провинция Фарс: Шираз (фото Sh. Hesami) (c), провинция Тегеран: Kuhsar (фото B.
Golavi) (d), провинция Тегеран: Rudehen (фото A. Bolhari) (e) и провинция Керман: Shahr-e Babak (фото H. Asgari) (f).
DISTRIBUTION. From Morocco and Spain to Iran.
Loureedia phoenixi sp.n.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
E3D2652B-2ED2-4C42-941F-AEBE91267524
Figs 1a–f, 2a–d, 3a–f, 4.
Loureedia sp.: Henriques et al., 2018: 7, fig. 2h (#)
TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype #, paratype 1 # (MHNG):
IRAN, Alborz Province: Karaj, Chenarak, 35.8845821ºN, 50.
9306001ºE, 8.11.2019 (A. Beigi).
PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS. 1 #: Alborz Province: Karaj,
11.10.2016 (N. Sheikh); 1 #: Fars Province: Shiraz, Shahrak-e
Sadra, 29.8047439ºN, 52.4232364ºE, 02.11.2018 (Sh. Hesami);
1 #: Kerman Province: Shahr-e Babak, Meymand Vil., 30.
229139ºN, 55.3718125ºE, 27.10.2017 (H. Asgari); 1 #: Tehran
Province: Kuhsar, 35.7744789ºN, 51.293026311ºE, 11.11.2018
(B. Golavi); 1 #: Pardisan Park, 35.7451381ºN, 51.3558087ºE,
5.11.2016 (A. Zamani); 1 #: Rudehen, 10.2015 (A. Bolhari).
ETYMOLOGY. The new species is named after the
American actor, producer and animal rights activist Joaquin
Phoenix in recognition of his praised portrayal of the title
character in the 2019 movie “Joker” and as a reference to the
male abdominal pattern of the new species, which resembles
the famous facial makeup of this character.
DIAGNOSIS. The new species differs from congeners
by the prolateral arm of the conductor (Pa) which is pointed
and almost the same length as the retrolateral arm of the
conductor (Ra). The conductor arms are not as pointed and
retrolateral arm is distinctly longer than the prolateral one in
other species (cf. Figs 3f and 3g–i).
DESCRIPTION. Male (holotype). Habitus as in Figs
1a–f, 2a–d. Total length 8.35. Carapace 5.25 long, 4.0 wide.
Eye sizes and interdistances: AME: 0.14, ALE: 0.26, PME:
0.29, PLE: 0.19, AME–AME: 0.2, ALE–AME: 0.11. Cara-
pace, sternum, labium, chelicerae and maxillae dark brown
with tones of red. Carapace mostly covered by long black
setae and scattered short white setae, with localized patches
of short red setae mostly in the pars thoracica or the center
of pars cephalica. Legs covered with thin black hairs, with
distinct regions of white hairs at the joints of all segments
that rarely connect with each other, forming distinct white
rings. Abdomen with a compact, longitudinal median red
stripe with lateral projections with compact white spots at
their tips. The anteriormost pair of white spots either contig-
uous or very close to each other, sometimes merging with a
distinct white spot above the pedicel, forming an anterior
white shield.
Legs and palp measurements:
Fe Pt Ti Mt Ta Total
Palp 1.58 0.75 0.25 – 1.2 3.78
I 3.25 1.5 1.88 2.13 1.38 10.14
II 2.88 1.5 1.51 1.88 1.13 8.9
III 2.75 1.5 1.38 1.63 0.95 8.21
IV 3.5 1.75 2.25 2.25 1.25 11

241
A new and easternmost species of Loureedia from Iran
Fig. 2. Habitus of the holotype of Loureedia phoenixi sp.n.: a — dorsal, b — ventral, c — lateral, d — frontal.
Рис. 2. Внешний вид голотипа Loureedia phoenixi sp.n.: a — сверху; b — снизу; c — сбоку; d — спереди.
Palp as in Figs 3a–f. Femur as long as tibia+cymbium, 3
times longer than wide. Length of conductor’s arms sub-
equal. Tibia shorter than wide. Cymbium about 2 times
longer than wide. Prolateral margin of conductor almost
straight, forming right angle with the posterior margin. Pro-
lateral and retrolateral arms of conductor subequal in length,
both with sharply pointed tips.
Female. Unknown.
PHENOLOGY. All available records of the new species
are from late October and early November, congruent with
the known phenology of most other Loureedia species [Hen-
riques et al., 2018].
DISTRIBUTION. The new species is the first of the
genus to be found outside of the Mediterranean, and this
extends the distribution over 1500 km to the east. It is
endemic to Iran (Fig. 4), collected from the type locality in
Alborz Province, with photographic records in Tehran, Fars
and Kerman provinces, northern and south-central Iran. Al-
though, specimens from the north and south appear identi-
cal, we cannot rule out that the southern populations (for
which only photographic records are available) could repre-
sent a different species; this shall be further investigated
when specimens from those localities are available.
Acknowledgments. We are grateful toward Amir Beigi
(Karaj, Iran) for providing us with the collected material,
and Hadis Asgari (Kerman, Iran), Amir Hossein Bolhari
(Tehran, Iran), Bayan Golavi (Tehran, Iran), Shahram Hesa-
mi (Shiraz, Iran) and Niloofar Sheikh (Karaj, Iran) for pro-
viding us with photographic records. We thank two anony-
mous reviewers and editor Kirill G. Mikhailov for helpful
comments and suggestions. The English of the earlier draft
was kindly checked by Sarah Crews (California, US).
References
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Tamajón R., Martínez-Avilés J. 2018. First records of Lou-
reedia (Araneae, Eresidae) from Europe, with the description
of a new species and a survey of the genus // Revista Ibérica de
Aracnología. Vol.33. P.3–20.
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baie M. 2012. The velvet spiders: an atlas of the Eresidae
(Arachnida, Araneae) // ZooKeys. Vol.195. P.1–144.
Szűts T., Kaya R.S., Yamur E.A., Oger P., Fabregat M., Moradi
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242 A. Zamani, Yu.M. Marusik
Fig. 3. Male palps of Loureedia phoenixi sp.n. (a–f, holotype), L. annulipes (g), L. lucasi (h) and L. colleni (i). a, c — prolateral, b —
retrolateral, d — apical, e–i — ventral, f–i — conductor, ventral. g–i — after Henriques et al. [2018] with modifications. Scale = 0.02 mm
if not otherwise indicated. Abbreviations: Pa — prolateral arm of conductor, Ra — retrolateral arm of conductor.
Рис. 3. Пальпа самца Loureedia phoenixi sp.n. (голотип, a–f), L. annulipes (g), L. lucasi (h) and L. colleni (i). a, c — пролатераль-
но; b — ретролатерально; d — сверху, e–i — снизу, f–i — кондуктор снизу. g–i — по Henriques et al. [2018] с изменениями.
Масштаб 0,2 мм если не указано иначе. Сокращения: Pa — пролатеральная ветвь кондуктора, Ra — ретролатеральная ветвь
кондуктора.

243
A new and easternmost species of Loureedia from Iran
WSC. 2020. World Spider Catalog. Version 21.0. Natural History
Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, accessed on
27.04.2020.
Zamani A., Mirshamsi O., Marusik Y.M., Moradmand M. 2020.
The Checklist of the Spiders of Iran. Version 2020, Online at
http://www.spiders.ir
Responsible editor K.G. Mikhailov
Fig. 4. Distribution of Loureedia phoenixi sp.n. in Iran. Circle — type locality, squares — photographic records.
Рис.4. Распространение Loureedia phoenixi sp.n.. Круг — типовой локалитет; квадраты — места, где задокументированы
находки по фотографиям.