Lycosa Latreille, 1804

Shafaie, Sepideh, Nadolny, Anton A. & Mirshamsi, Omid, 2022, A new species of Lycosa and three new species and a new record of Karakumosa from Iran (Araneae, Lycosidae), Zootaxa 5120 (4), pp. 501-522 : 502

Genus Lycosa Latreille, 1804

Type species. Aranea tarantula Rossi, 1790

Diagnosis. According to the identification key proposed by Logunov (2010), Lycosa differs from other large central Asian burrowing wolf spiders in the following characters: (1) hooked-shaped median apophysis; (2) singular synembolus; (3) epigyne comprising an anterior elevation (4) absence of epigynal depression, (5) distinct septal pedicle; (4) relatively complex spermathecae with long and S-shaped ducts.

Comments. Spiders of the genus Lycosa are relatively large and fossorial. The genus includes 224 species distributed worldwide, with the highest species diversity in Asia and South America ( World Spider Catalog 2022). Five species have been recorded from Iran, including two endemic species ( L. aragogi Nadolny & Zamani, 2017 and L. macrophthalma Nadolny & Zamani, 2020 ), which were described from the females ( World Spider Catalog 2022) and hence can be compared to the new species being described in the present paper based on the similarities in copulatory organs (see Lycosa soboutii sp. n.). Also, the new species is assigned to the genus Lycosa according to the similarities of habitus and epigyne: large spiders with septal pedicle, massive folds at vulva, not anchor-shaped septum and the absence of epigynal depression.