On Araniella and Neoscona (Araneae, Araneidae) of the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia

Abstract

New taxonomic data for species belonging to Araniella Chamberlin & Ivie, 1942 and Neoscona Simon, 1864 occurring in the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia are provided. Three species are described as new to science: A. mithra sp. nov. (male female, northwestern, central and southwestern Iran), A. villanii sp. nov. (male female, southwestern Iran, eastern Kazakhstan and northern India) and N. bath sp. nov. (male female, central Iran). Neoscona spasskyi (Brignoli, 1983) comb. now, stat. res. is removed from the synonymy of N. tedgenica (Bakhvalov, 1978), redescribed and recorded from Iran and Turkmenistan for the first time. New combinations are established for this species, as well as for Araniella nigromaculata (Schenkel, 1963) comb. nov. (female north-central China) (both ex. Amneus). Two new synonymies are proposed: Amniella tbilisiensis Mcheidze, 1997 syn. nov. is synonymized with A. opisthographa (Kulczytiski, 1905), and Neoscona sodom Levy, 1998 syn. nov. is synonymized with N. theisi (Walckenaer, 1841); the latter is recorded from Iran, Georgia, and Russia (Northern Caucasus) for the first time.