Opilio ilhamakerimovae Snegovaya & Bovykina & Kondakov 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Snegovaya, N. Y.
name: Bovykina, G. V.
name: Kondakov, A. V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Phalangiidae
Opilio
Opilio ilhamakerimovae

description: Opilio ilhamakerimovae Snegovaya sp. nov.
Fig. 2, 4, N100/14
Material. Holotype: 1♂ (ZMMU), Lerik, Gosmalyan, 38°40'12.6"N, 48°22'29.1"E, 1456 m a.s.l., 05.06.2023; Paratypes: 2♀♀ (ZMMU), 1♂, 6♀♀ (RCNS) Lerik, Gosmalyan, 20– 23.06.2017, leg. N. Snegovaya; 3♂, 1♀ (RCNS), same place, 05.06.2023, leg. N. Snegovaya, I. Kerimova.
Description. Male (Holotype). Body length 6.2 mm, 3.2 width, body mostly quadrangular form with an elongated caudal part, with transversal rows of small denticles (Fig. 4A). Eye tubercle low with six part denticles on each side (Fig. 4B). Legs long, covered with transversal rows of denticles and setae. Lengths of leg segments: I: 7.0+1.8+5.2+7.2+10.0 =31.2; II: 12.4+2.0+10.0+8.0+16.2 = 48.6; IV: 8.3+1.6+6.5+9.0+14.6 = 40.0. BLI-2.19. Pedipalps not very thick, femur, patella and tibia with a small number of denticles dorsally, tarsus with setae and ventrally with microdenticles (Fig. 4D,E). Pedipalps lengths: 1.4+0.6+0.95+1.15 = 4.1 mm. Chelicera not large, all segments with a small number of denticles and setae (Fig. 4F,G). Cheliceral basal segment length 1.35 mm, distal segment 1.85 mm. The body color is light brown with spots of lighter and darker color and different sizes. The darker pattern of the saddle on the dorsal side of the body is clearly visible. The legs, palps and chelicerae are also light brown. Penis long, the base of the penis is widened, then gradually narrows, expanding at the glans into wings (Figs. 4H,I). Wings dark-brown colors, from a ventrally rounded form (Fig. 4J,K). The truncus of the penis is wide at the base and tapers toward the apical part. The glans is banana-shaped with a slightly widened apical part with 2 pairs of setae. Penis 2.9 mm long, glans 0.35 mm, stylus 0.1 mm.
Female also differs by larger body size and oval body shape, smaller chelicera and pedipalps (Fig. 4L–P). The female is darker in color than the male, especially the pattern of the saddle. Female body length 6.5, wide 3.6. Pedipalp lengths 1.5+0.55+0.85+1.65 = 4.55. Cheliceral basal segment length 1.35, distal segment 1.85. Lengths of leg segments: I: 6.0+1.2+4.6+6.6+10.6 = 29.0; II: 9.0+1.6+8.0+5.5+17.6 =41.7; III: 5.6+1.6+3.5+4.6+8.0 =23.3; IV: 7.5+1.4+4.8+7.0+11.4 =32.1.
Diagnosis. The new species Opilio ilhamakerimovae sp. nov. also very close to Opilio morini Snegovaya, 2016, but differs from it by the structure of the penis—wider and darker wings of O. ilhamakerimovae vs less wide and lighter wings of O.morini [Fig. 4J; Snegovaya, 2016: fig. 35]; in the longer and thinner legs of the O.morini and Fe I (6.0 mm in O. ilhamakerimovae vs 8.6 mm in O.morini) [Fig. 4C; Snegovaya, 2016: fig. 24]; BLI: 2.19 in O. ilhamakerimovae vs 2.69 in O.morini.
Etymology. The new species is named in honor of my friend Ilhama Kerimova (Institute of Zoology, Baku).
Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Lerik district (Azerbaijan).
description: Published as part of Snegovaya, N. Y., Bovykina, G. V. & Kondakov, A. V., 2025, Two new Opilio Herbst, 1798 species (Arachnida: Opiliones: Phalangiidae) from Azerbaijan, pp. 475-483 in Zootaxa 5621 (4) on pages 479-482, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5621.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/15263060