Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967

Marusik, Yuri M., Zonstein, Sergei & Ras, Feb, 2023, A new and the southernmost species of Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967 (Araneae: Filistatidae) from the United Arab Emirates, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 52 (17), pp. 29-33 : 30

Genus Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967

Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967: 275 ; Zonstein & Marusik, 2016: 6 .

Type species: Filistata schmitzi Kulczyński, 1911 , by monotypy.

Comments: DiaGnosis and description of the Genus were proVided by Zonstein and Marusik (2016). Since the reVision by Zonstein and Marusik (2016) only three species have been described, and they agree to the characters described before. It is worth mentioning that of 29 named species most (18) are known from females ( WSC 2023). One species is known from male and the rest are known from both sexes ( WSC 2023). Regarding the species distributed in southern part of the genus range, only the type species, which occurs in the Eastern Mediterranean, is known from both males and females. All other southern species distributed in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and India, are known only from females. Iran has the highest species diversity of the genus; currently eight species are known across the whole country ( Zamani & Marusik 2018; WSC 2023) and all of them are known from females.

Zonstein and Marusik (2016) recoGnized and then considered six species-Groups in the genus. The offered splitting was based primarily on the males, although these males were known only in 10 species and only in five species-groups. The persica - group, known only from females, has a rather diverse structure of the endogyne; the included species share a single common character – one pair of the receptacles (vs. 2 pairs in other species-groups). This sole pair of the receptacles can be digitiform, wider than long or long and wavy.

Distribution: The genus is known from Kerkyra (=Corfu) Isl. (ca. 19 ° E, Z. kerkyra Lecigne, 2023 ) to Eastern Kazakhstan (81 ° E, Z. zonsteini Fomichev & Marusik, 2013 ). The southernmost distribution records were noted for south Sinai Peninsula (28 ° 33'N, Z. schmitzi ) and southern Iran (27 ° 14'N, Z. brignoliana Zonstein & Marusik, 2016 ) (Zonstein 2009; Zamani & Marusik 2016; Zonstein & Marusik 2016). The northernmost points of the genus distribution are 48 ° 33'N for Z. inderensis Ponomarev, 2005 , and 47º14'N for Z. zonsteini Fomichev & Marusik, 2013 in the northwestern and eastern parts of Kazakhtsan, respectively ( Ponomarev 2005; FomicheV & Marusik 2013; Zonstein & Marusik 2016).