The spider collection ( Arachnida : Araneae ) of the Zoological Museum of the Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection , with new species records for Iran

The department of Agricultural Zoology at the Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection houses a museum with collections of different groups of animals, mainly ticks, mites, birds and rodents, but also a small collection of spiders. Specimens were mainly collected by Dr. Fariba Mozaffarian – now curator of Auchenorrhyncha, Insect Taxonomy Research Department – and Ms. Sahra Ghavami. Some of these specimens were previously reported as definite or probable misidentifications, e.g. Dresserus, Eresidae, known from Africa only, here identified as Stegodyphus pacificus and Pardosa monticola, Lycosidae, here identified as P. buchari, as suggested by Marusik et al. (2012). Furthermore, a considerable portion of the collection has never been cited before. Thus a comprehensive study on the identification of these specimens was carried out. As a result, new interesting data on numerous taxa that are new to the fauna of the country were recovered and are reported and illustrated here.

Alireza ZAMANI, Department of Animal Biology, School of Bio logy and Centre of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, College of Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.Department of Agricultural Zoology Research, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran; E-mail: a.zamani@ut.ac.ir submitted 7. 9.2014, accepted 12.4.2015, online 29.6.2015Fig. 1: Map of Iran, showing the localities were the specimens were collected (see Tab. 1) (Tab. 1, Fig. 1).Data are given in as much detail as possible, for some records even the year is unknown, or only the province is known.Nine species are recorded from Iran for the first time (see below), and added to the checklist, which currently comprises of 521 species in 229 genera and 45 families (Zamani et al. 2015).
Diagnosis.Body length 4-9 mm.From the male pedipalps, this species can be distinguished by the presence of proximally long ventral spines on the femur, by two groups of short spines on the tibia and by a group of strong bristles near the tibial apophysis.Females of this species can be diagnosed by the anteriorly widened epigyneal fissure, by the pointed anterior border of the vulva and by the sharply concaved margin of the sclerotized anterior pockets (Růžička 2001).
Distribution and remarks.This species is known from Europe to Central Asia, and represents here a new species record for the spider fauna of Iran.Previously, Marusik et al. (2014) predicted the presence of this species in Iran based on nine juvenile specimens collected in Golestan Province.
Diagnosis.Body length 10-11 mm in males, 14-18 mm in females.Males of this species are diagnosable by the large tegular apophysis which has a small hook at its tip and by the long embolus, which has a thin apical part and makes a loop in the middle section.Females can be distinguished by the epigyneal plate being as-long-as-wide, lacking pockets, and by the presence of broad ducts between the two pairs of receptacles (Almquist 2005).

Pardosa aenigmatica
Diagnosis.Body length 7 mm.This species is diagnosable from the closely related P. naevia by a different body pattern, the size of the epigynum, and different conformation of the male pedipalp (Tongiorgi 1966(Tongiorgi , 1968)).
Distribution and remarks.Previously known from Italy, Turkey and Azerbaijan, it is a new species record for the spider fauna of Iran.This is the southeastern most record of the species across its whole range.Diagnosis.Body length 8-9 mm.This species is diagnosable by a tegular apophysis of the male which forms a lamella, by the lateral longitudinal bands on the prosoma which are distinctly jagged laterally, and by the anteriorly forked median band of the female epigyne (Nentwig et al. 2015).
Distribution and remarks.This species has a Palaearctic distribution and is a new record for the fauna of Iran.
Diagnosis.Body length 3 mm in males, 3-4 mm in females.This species can be diagnosed by the epigyne of the female, which lacks a dividing structure in the middle of the opening, and has a heart-shaped median part, and by the conformation of the cymbium and paracymbium of the male palp (Le Peru 2011).
Distribution and remarks.Widely distributed in the Palaearctic, representing a new genus and species record for the spider fauna of Iran.This record should, however, be considered provisional, as the identification is based on the morphology of the habitus and carapace and abdominal pattern of a single subadult female specimen (e.g. the four tubercles and the dark median stripe on the opisthosoma and the colouration of the sternum).Diagnosis.Body length 2.5-3 mm in males, 2.5-3.5 mm in females.This species can be diagnosed by the narrow distal part of the cymbium, by the sickleshaped basal portion of the embolus, which bears several denticles, and by the undivided basal apophysis of males, and also by the abdominal patterns of females (Le Peru 2011).Diagnosis.Body length 3-3.5 mm in males, 4-4.5 mm in females.Males of this species can be diagnosed by the palpal tibia which is about the same length as the cymbium, by the pointed paracymbium which is apically on the retrolateral side, by the semicircular thin embolic tip, and by the presence of a tooth on the conductor.Females are diagnosed by their distinct epigyneal opening form (Almquist 2005).
Distribution and remarks.Widely distributed in the Palaearctic and a new species record here for the spider fauna of Iran.Diagnosis.Body length 4.5-5 mm in males, 4.5-7 mm in females.This species can be diagnosed by the shape of the tibial apophysis and by the lack of a tegular apophysis in males, and by the funnel-shaped structure on the epigyneal plate of females (Levy 1973).
Distribution and remarks.This species has a largely Mediterranean distribution, but has also been recorded from Yemen and India (Bayram et al. 2007).It is a new species record here for the spider fauna of Iran.

Discussion
As a result of examining this collection, two genera and nine species were recorded for the spider fauna of Iran for the first time, increasing the number of spider genera and species known for this country to 231 and 530, respectively.Obtaining such a result from this relatively small-sized collection -and by comparing the number of species known from Iran with some adjacent and nearby countries (e.g., Azerbaijan, with about 720 species (Otto 2014); Turkey with more than 1013 species (Bayram et al. 2014); Kazakhstan with more than 966 species (Mikhailov 2013)) -implies that the spider fauna of Iran remains poorly known and would benefit from further detailed taxonomic and faunistic studies in the future.
(ZMP-AR-0041), IRAN: Golestan Province (6), 2004, Ghavami leg.Diagnosis.Body length 3.4-4.1 mm in males, 3.6-4.8mm in females.This species can be diagnosed by the non-bifurcated tip of the embolus and by the pointed tip of the palpal tibial apophysis of males, and in females by the wider-than-long epigyneal plate and by the visibility of the straight parts of the copulatory ducts through the integument(Almquist 2006).Distribution and remarks.Widely distributed in the Palaearctic and a new species record here for the spider fauna of Iran.Theridiidae Sundevall, 1833 Crustulina sticta (O.P.-Cambridge, 1861) Material.1) (ZMP-AR-0023), IRAN: Alborz Province: Karaj (1), 16/Apr/1998, Mozaffarian leg.