Citation: Nuruyeva TV, Snegovaya NYu, Aliyeva AR (2026) Nine new records of spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) from Azerbaijan. Acta Biologica Sibirica 12: 133–143. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18859619
Abstract
This study reports nine spider species newly recorded from Azerbaijan. Six of these – Lasophorus zografae Chatzaki, 2018, Zelotes fulvaster (Simon, 1878), Z. prishutovae Ponomarev & Tsvetkov, 2006, Hahnia rossii Brignoli, 1977, Artema doriae (Thorell, 1881), and Synema anatolicum Demir, Aktaş & Topçu, 2009 – are documented for the first time in the Caucasus. The remaining three – Berlandina nabozhenkoi Ponomarev & Tsvetkov, 2006, Bassaniodes robustus (Hahn, 1832), and Cetonana laticeps (Canestrini, 1868) – represent new records for Azerbaijan only. These findings expand the known spider diversity of the Caucasus and increase the total number of species recorded from Azerbaijan to 785. All species are illustrated with photographs.
Keywords: Aranei, fauna, new records, spiders, Caucasus
Introduction
The spider fauna of Azerbaijan currently comprises 776 species (Nuruyeva and Zamani 2025; Nuruyeva et al. 2025). A major contribution to the development of modern knowledge on the country’s araneofauna was made by P. Dunin (1989; 1990; 1991; 1992 a, b, c; 1993), who described about 70 species new to science and documented a large number of taxa. The most intensive progress in arachnological research occurred in the 21st century, particularly during the period 2002–2008, and was associated with a series of systematic and faunistic studies by Huseynov and his co-authors (Logunov and Guseinov 2002; Marusik and Guseinov 2003; Marusik et al. 2003 a, b, 2005 a, b; Guseinov et al. 2005; Logunov and Huseynov 2008). These works significantly expanded knowledge of the taxonomic composition and distribution of spiders in Azerbaijan, including the description of new taxa. Substantial contributions to the study of the Azerbaijani spider fauna have also been made by other arachnologists (Azarkina 2003, 2004; Kovblyuk et al. 2013a, c; Ponomarev et al. 2024). Examination of both existing collection material and specimens collected in 2025, revealed nine species newly recorded from Azerbaijan. The current article presents data on these records, all species are illustrated with photographs.
Materials and methods
Specimens and their copulatory organs were photographed using a Sony DSC-P8 camera mounted on a Nikon SMZ 1270 stereomicroscope. The Caucasus region is defined according to the checklist of Mikhailov (2024), encompassing both the Northern and Southern Caucasus.
Depository: IZBA = Institute of Zoology, Baku, Azerbaijan (N. Snegovaya).
Results
Gnaphosidae Banks, 1892
Berlandina Dalmas, 1922
Berlandina nabozhenkoi Ponomarev & Tsvetkov, 2006
Fig. 1
Berlandina nabozhenkoi Ponomarev 2008: 79, f. 1-2 (♂♀); Ponomarev et al. 2018: 246, f. 1-2 (♀); Seropian et al. 2024: 187, f. 1-2 (♀).
For a complete list of six taxonomic entries, see World Spider Catalog (2026).
Material examined. 1♀ (IZBA), Azerbaijan: Nakhchivan region: Julfa Distr., under a stone, 26.VI.2012, E.Huseynov.
Distribution. Turkey, Russia (Europe), Iran (World Spider Catalog 2026) and Georgia (Seropian et al. 2024).
Comment. The first record for the fauna of Azerbaijan.
Lasophorus Chatzaki, 2018
Lasophorus zografae Chatzaki, 2018
Figs 2, 3
Lasophorus zografae Chatzaki 2018: 532, f. 27-28, 31-40 (♂♀); Seyyar et al. 2019: 43, f. 2, 3A-D (♂).
Comment. The first record for the fauna of Caucasus.
Pholcidae C. L. Koch, 1850
Artema Walckenaer, 1837
Artema doriae (Thorell, 1881)
Fig. 9
Artema doriai Tabrizi, Rad and Hedayati 2014: 35, f. 1M-N, 3L-M (♀).
Artema doriae Aharon, Huber and Gavish-Regev 2017: 30, f. 90-120, 205, 212 (♂♀); Al-Khazali and Najim 2018: 179, pl. 1A-D, 2A-D, 3 (♂♀).
For a complete list of five taxonomic entries, see World Spider Catalog (2026).
Material examined. 1♂ (IZBA), Azerbaijan: Nakhchivan region: Nakhchivan city, on the wall, 21.VIII.2023, N.Snegovaya
Distribution. Turkey, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Introduced to Japan (World Spider Catalog 2026).
Comment. A spider of the genus Artema recorded from Nakhchivan (Ordubad district) by Beydizade (2017) was not identified to species level. It likely represents the same species reported here. The first record for the fauna of Caucasus.
Thomisidae Sundevall, 1833
Bassaniodes Pocock, 1903
Bassaniodes robustus (Hahn, 1832)
Figs 10, 11
For a complete list of thirty-nine taxonomic entries, see World Spider Catalog (2026).
Distribution. Europe to Central Asia. In the Caucasus, Bassaniodes robustus is reported from Russia (Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Territory, Dagestan, and North Ossetia), Georgia (Otto 2022).
Comment. The first record for the fauna of Azerbaijan.
Distribution. Europe, Turkey, Caucasus (World Spider Catalog 2026). In the Caucasus, this species is reported only from Krasnodar Krai of Russia (Kovblyuk and Ponomarev 2008) and Georgia (Seropian et al. 2023).
Comment. This is the first record of the species for the fauna of Azerbaijan and represents the easternmost known locality of the species.
Discussion
A total of 785 spider species (Arachnida: Aranei) are currently recorded from Azerbaijan, indicating a relatively rich fauna among the South Caucasus countries compared to Armenia (283 species), but fewer than in neighboring Georgia (801 species) (Nentwig et al. 2026). Nevertheless, the spider fauna of Azerbaijan remains understudied and further research is likely to reveal additional species.
Figures 10–17. Copulatory organs. 10–11. Male palp of Bassaniodes robustus (Hahn, 1832); 12–13. Male and female habitus of Synema anatolicum Demir, Aktaş & Topçu, 2009; 14–15. Male palp of Synema anatolicum Demir, Aktaş & Topçu, 2009; 16. Epigyne of Synema anatolicum Demir, Aktaş & Topçu, 2009; 17. Ditto, Cetonana laticeps (Canestrini, 1868). 10, 14, 15, 16, 17 – ventral view; 11 – retrolateral view; 12, 13 – dorsal view. Scale bars = 0.2 mm (10, 11, 14–17), 1 mm (12, 13).
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to Drs. Robert Kolimar, Peter Hlaváč (Slovakia) and Matúš Kocian (Czech Republic) for the material provided. We are also sincerely grateful to the anonymous reviewer for valuable comments.
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