Agroeca angirasu Zamani & Marusik 2021
Creators: name: Zamani, Alireza
name: Fomichev, Alexander A.
name: Naumova, Maria
name: Kaya, Rahşen S.
name: Marusik, Yuri M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Liocranidae
Agroeca
Agroeca angirasu

description: Agroeca angirasu Zamani & Marusik, 2021
Figs 1, 37–39
Agroeca angirasu Zamani & Marusik, 2021b: 558, figs 1A–E, 2A–D (♂).
Material. AZERBAIJAN: Astara Dist.: 1♀ (ZMMU), ca. 10 km W of Astara Vil., Isti-Su, 38°27'N, 48°47'E, on the border with Iran, 25.IV.2001 (leg. Y.M. Marusik); Lankaran Dist.: 2♀ (ZMUT), env. of Aurora Vil., 38°40'N, 48°52'E, 23–28.IV.2001 (leg. Y.M. Marusik).
Diagnosis. The female of A. angirasu differs from all congeners by having an anterior hood (Ah) (vs. absent). For the male, see Zamani & Marusik (2021b).
Description. Female. Habitus as in Fig. 1. Total length 5.76. Carapace 2.18 long, 1.80 wide. Eye sizes: AME: 0.13, ALE: 0.15, PME: 0.11, PLE: 0.13. Carapace light brown, with dark stripes radiating from fovea. Chelicerae, maxillae, labium and sternum yellowish. Legs slightly lighter than carapace, without annulations. Abdomen greyish-beige, mottled with light brown dots. Spinnerets uniformly light beige. Paired ventral tibial spines: I, II: 6p. Measurements of legs: I: 7.37 (2.07, 0.96, 2.04, 1.42, 0.88), II: 7.01 (1.87, 0.95, 1.70, 1.49, 1.00), III: 6.51 (1.73, 0.81, 1.33, 1.68, 0.96), IV: 9.25 (2.40, 0.92, 2.10, 2.60, 1.23).
Epigyne as in Figs 37–39; epigynal plate almost as long as wide; fovea triangular, with distinct anterior hood (Ah); copulatory ducts (Cd) thick, converging, with globular structures (Gs) anteriorly; glands indistinct; receptacles (Re) kidney-shaped, stretched transversally.
Male. See Zamani & Marusik (2021b).
Comments. Although the female described here was not collected with a male, we consider it conspecific with the male holotype of A. angirasu described by Zamani & Marusik (2021b). Both specimens have a similar coloration and ventral spination pattern of tibiae I and II, which is drastically different from congeners (6 pairs in A. angirasu, vs. typically 2 pairs in other species). It is noteworthy that in the description of the holotype of A. angirasu, the measurements of leg segments are erroneously given in the reverse order of what has been noted in the methods section.
The presence of characters not documented in other Agroeca species (i.e., an anterior hood of the fovea, a short embolus tip, and six pairs of ventral tibial spines on legs I and II), suggests that this species is likely misplaced in the genus and may belong to a currently undescribed one.
Distribution. Known from Astara and Lankaran in southeastern Azerbaijan (a new country record; Fig. 75) and Golestan Province in northern Iran (Zamani & Marusik 2021b).
description: Published as part of Zamani, Alireza, Fomichev, Alexander A., Naumova, Maria, Kaya, Rahşen S. & Marusik, Yuri M., 2024, New taxonomic and faunistic data on Liocranidae (Arachnida: Araneae) of West Palaearctic), with nine new species of Mesiotelus Simon, 1897, pp. 190-214 in Zootaxa 5519 (2) on pages 192-193, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5519.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/13915743