Zodariellum Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1968

Zamani, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2021, Revision of the spider family Zodariidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Iran and Turkmenistan, with seventeen new species, ZooKeys 1035, pp. 145-193 : 145

Genus Zodariellum Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1968

Type species.

Zodariellum surprisum Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1968 from Tajikistan.

Comments.

The genus was described as monotypic and synonymized with Acanthinozodium by Jocqué (1991). Marusik and Koponen (2001) resurrected Zodariellum , described two new species from Mongolia ( Z. schmidti Marusik & Koponen, 2001 and Z. mongolicum Marusik & Koponen, 2001), and transferred eight species to it from Zodarion : Z. asiaticum (Tyshchenko, 1970), Z. bekuzini (Nenilin, 1985), Z. chaoyangense (Zhu & Zhu, 1983), Z. continentalis (Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1968), Z. furcum (Zhu, 1988), Z. proszynskii (Nenilin & Fet, 1985), Z. nenilini (Eskov, 1996) and Z. sytchevskajae (Nenilin & Fet, 1985). Ponomarev (2007) described two more species in the genus ( Z. volgouralensis Ponomarev, 2007 and Z. Zodarion inderensis Ponomarev, 2007). Jocqué and Henrard (2015) transferred all Zodariellum species, except for the generotype into Zodarion .

Diagnosis.

All Zodariellum spp. are clearly different from the generotype of Zodarion , Z. nitidum (Audouin, 1826), and the species considered in the genus by the following: 1) the cymbium has a tutaculum (vs. lacking in Z. nitidum and other species groups); 2) filamentous embolus starting at the 5 o’clock position (vs. 6 - in Z. nitidum , and many species groups of Zodarion sensu lato lack the filamentous embolus, or they are not at 5 o’clock position); 3) the absence of a ventral tibial apophysis (vs. present in the generotype) and 4) the shape of the RTA: one arm longer than wide, with claw or wart-like outgrowth posteriorly from the tip (vs. wider than long, with 3 branches in the generotype and various shapes in other species groups). Females of the two generotypes have long and twisted copulatory ducts, but they are converging in Zodariellum and diverging in Zodarion .

Composition.

We consider the following species in Zodariellum because they have similar male palps and epigynes: Z. asiaticum (Tyshchenko, 1970) comb. res., Z. bactrianum (Kroneberg, 1875) comb. nov. (ex. Zodarion ), Z. bekuzini (Nenilin, 1985) comb. res., Z. chaoyangense (Zhu & Zhu, 1983) comb. res., Z. continentalis (Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1968) comb. res., Z. furcum (Zhu, 1988) comb. res., Z. mongolicum Marusik & Koponen, 2001 comb. res., Z. proszynskii (Nenilin & Fet, 1985) comb. res., Z. nenilini (Eskov, 1996) comb. res., Z. surprisum Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1968 comb. res., Z. schmidti Marusik & Koponen, 2001 comb. res., Z. sytchevskajae (Nenilin & Fet, 1985) comb. res. and Z. volgouralensis Ponomarev, 2007 comb. res. Taking into account the shape of the epigyne of Zodarion inderensis (Ponomarev, 2007), originally placed in Zodariellum , we do not restore the original combination for this species.

To illustrate the conformation of the male palp in Zodariellum (male specimens are lacking among the material studied in Iran and Turkmenistan), we have provided figures of Z. bactrianum , a species previously known from the original description only and previously considered in Zodarion .

Distribution.

Western Russia, Iran, Central Asia to northern China ( WSC 2021).