Synaphosus shirin Ovtsharenko, Levy & Platnick, 1994

Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed, 2024, New species and records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Iraq, Ecologica Montenegrina 77, pp. 12-23 : 17-18

Synaphosus shirin Ovtsharenko, Levy & Platnick, 1994 ( Figs. 5 A-E).

Determination. Chatzaki & Russell-Smith (2017), Bosmans et al. (2019) and Danışman et al. (2020).

Material examined. 3 ♂♂ and 2 subadult ♂ ( CBEUS). IRAQ: Thi Qar Province , 33 km from the city center, specimens were taken from a semi-desert area on the side of the Al-Masb Al-am River (The third river), 31.594224 °N, 45.813287 °E, 12 m .a.s.l., 12. December 2023. Leg. A.M. Al-Khazali

Description of male. Overall appearance as in Fig. (5 A-B). Measurements: Total body length 3.01; carapace 1.33 long, 1.42 wide; opisthosoma 1.68 long, 1.04 wide. Leg measurements: leg I. 3.5 (1.2, 0.6, 0.8, 0.5, 0.4). leg II. 2.9 (0.9, 0.2, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5). leg III. 2.8 (0.7, 0.4, 0.6, 0.6, 0.5). leg IV. 3.8 (1.1, 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 0.4).

Carapace dark brown with lighter spots around fovea. Around anterior eye row dark. Sternum yellowish-brown with dark edges. Palp, endites, labium and chelicerae yellowish brown. Legs yellowish. Opisthosoma oval, dorsally darker than carapace, ventrally pale brown. Spinnerets light brown. Palp: as in Fig. 5 (C-E), for more details, see Bosmans et al. (2019) and Danışman et al. (2020).

Distribution. S. shirin is known from five countries, all located in Western Asia: Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cyprus, and here newly recorded from Iraq ( Fig. 9 ).

Habitat. Although this species has been recorded at seven sites across four countries in West Asia, there is no detailed information of its habitat. Danışman et al. (2020) collected it from pistachio orchards and rocky regions in Şanlıurfa Province, southeastern Turkey. The current specimens were collected from a semi-desert area characterized by temperatures reaching 50 °C during the summer, with barren land for most of the year. During the winter, some lands are partially cultivated with wheat and barley, depending on rainfall and the rise in water levels in the adjacent river. The current samples were found under metal sheets and debris (rural construction waste) during the winter. These observations indicate that S. shirin occupies a wide range of habitats, including orchards, rocky terrain, and dry semideserts with stones or other structures that can be used as hideouts.

Comments. This species was first described based on specimens collected from Iran, specifically in the Qasr-e-Shirin region located on the Iran-Iraq border ( Ovtsharenko et al. 1994), 324 km from where the current specimen was found. Therefore , this species was expected to be found in Iraq and is also very likely to occur in Diyala and Sulaymaniyah provinces, which are close to its type locality .

Figures

Figure 5. Synaphosus shirin Ovtsharenko, Levy & Platnick, 1994, male. A. Habitus in dorsal view; B. Habitus in ventral view; C-E. left palp. C. prolateral view. D. ventral view. E. retrolateral view.

Figure 9. Map showing the known distribution of Minosia simeonica Levy, 1995 (rings),Minosiella intermedia Denis, 1958 (triangles), Synaphosus shirin Ovtsharenko, Levy & Platnick, 1994 (Red circles), Talanites gilgamesh AL-Khazali, sp. n., (Blue circle(and Talanites sumericus Zamani & Marusik, 2022 (squares).