New species and records of Oecobius Lucas, 1846 (Araneae: Oecobiidae) from Iran and Azerbaijan

ABSTRACT New data on the oecobiid spiders of the genus Oecobius Lucas, 1846 occurring in Iran and Azerbaijan are provided. Five species are described as new to science: O. dariusi sp. n. (♀; Alborz and Tehran ‒ northern Iran), O. melanocephalus sp. n. (♀; Lorestan, Razavi Khorasan, Semnan, and Tehran ‒ south-western, northern and north-eastern Iran; hitherto described as the female of O. ferdowsii Mirshamsi, Zamani and Marusik, 2017), O. naxuanus sp. n. (♂; Nakhchivan ‒ western Azerbaijan), O. pasargadae sp. n. (♂♀; Fars ‒ south-central Iran), and O. zagros sp. n. (♂; Kermanshah ‒ western Iran). Furthermore, O. navus Blackwall, 1859 is reported in Iran for the first time, and new distribution records are provided for O. putus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 and O. nadiae (Spassky, 1936). http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:98E34233-D62C-4443-A963-6F1DFB6183DF


Introduction
Oecobius Lucas, 1846, the largest genus of the spider family Oecobiidae, has an almost global distribution and currently comprises 90 species, as well as one fossil species from Dominican amber (Dunlop et al. 2020;WSC 2023).Although it is the most species-rich oecobiid genus, no species-group divisions have been proposed for it, except for the species found in the Canary Archipelago, where the genus has the highest species diversity -41 species (Wunderlich 1987).These species were categorised into three species groups, with just one, the navus group, being non-endemic to the archipelago.Although a worldwide revision of this genus has never been undertaken, it is relatively well studied within specific regions, particularly in the Nearctic (Shear 1970), as well as areas in the Mediterranean region, e.g. the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the East Mediterranean (Wunderlich 1987(Wunderlich , 1992(Wunderlich , 1995)).Wunderlich has described 49 species (WSC 2023), which accounts for over half of the presently recognised species of Oecobius.Only four of his described species have been later synonymised.Besides the Mediterranean region, only Iran has been the subject of several publications dealing with Oecobius (e.g.Zamani et al. 2017;Zamani and Marusik 2018;Zamani and Bosselaers 2020), resulting in six species currently known from this country (including two endemics).However, the fauna of the adjacent Caucasus remains relatively poorly studied, with only five species currently known from the region, all of which have wide distributions (Otto 2022).In this paper, we contribute to the knowledge of the diversity of this genus in Iran and the Caucasus by providing descriptions of five new species and recording one species that is new to Iran.

Material and methods
Photographs were obtained using an Olympus Camedia E-520 camera attached to an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope, and a JEOL JSM-5200 scanning electron microscope at the Zoological Museum of the University of Turku.Digital images of different focal planes were stacked with Helicon Focus™ 8.1.1.Illustrations of the vulvae were made after digesting tissues off in a 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) aqueous solution.Leg segments were measured on the dorsal side.Measurements of legs are listed as: total length (femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, tarsus).All measurements are given in millimetres.The map (Figure 9) was prepared using SimpleMappr (Shorthouse 2010).

Etymology
This species is named after Darius I, who is more commonly known as Darius the Great.He was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire and reigned from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE.During his rule, the empire reached its territorial peak.

Diagnosis
In the shape of the epigyne, the new species resembles O. latiscapus Wunderlich, 1992, known only from Tenerife.Both species have a wide 'scape' (Sc), a character unknown in the congeners.The new species can be distinguished by the heavily sclerotised tip of scape (vs not sclerotised) and by having many arched wrinkles in the anterior half and three posteriorly to the 'scape' (vs numerous straight wrinkles posteriorly from the 'scape'), and a few straight wrinkles anteriorly from the 'scape' (compare Figure 2A-C and Wunderlich 1992, fig.283).The vulva of O. latiscapus has never been illustrated, and therefore cannot be compared with that of the new species.

Etymology
The specific epithet refers to the characteristic black colouration of the carapace in this species.

Diagnosis
The new species differs from all its congeners occurring in the  3A, B; epigynal plate oval, ca 1.3 times wider than long; with distinct, as long as wide 'scape' (Sc), and pair of 'hoods' (H), twice wider than 'scape'; sclerotised capsules (Cs) round, separated by ca 3 diameters; receptacles (Re, poorly distinct in Figure 3B) oval, transversal, each shorter than half of epigynal plate width.

Comments
This species was initially described as the female of O. ferdowsii Mirshamsi, Zamani and Marusik, 2017.This is herein considered a mismatch: not only are there striking differences in the colouration pattern between the two species (compare Zamani et al. 2017, fig.2A,  B and 3A, B), but the results of ongoing research on Central Asian Oecobiinae also indicate that O. ferdowsii should be classified within a separate genus.The females of this currently undescribed genus exhibit a completely different conformation of epigyne and vulva compared to those of O. melanocephalus sp.n.

Comments
This species differs from the congeners occurring in the region by the dark lateral patches on clypeus, three pairs of sublateral dots on carapace (indistinct in some specimens), and the presence of dots on legs (but not annulations).We noted that it has a kind of retrolateral tibial apophysis (arrowed in Figure 4A), which has not been previously documented.

Etymology
The specific epithet refers to Naxuana, which is the name given to Nakhchivan in Ptolemy's Geography and in the works of other classical authors.

Diagnosis
In the habitus, the new species is similar to O. dariusi sp.n., but differs by having no annulations on the legs (compare Figure 1A and B).In the general conformation of the male palp and particularly the shape of radical apophysis, it is similar to O. rhodiensis

Distribution
Known only from the type locality in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Western Azerbaijan (Figure 9).

Etymology
The specific epithet refers to the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great, which is nowadays an archaeological site approximately 90 km north-east of Shiraz; noun in apposition.

Diagnosis
In the habitus, the new species differs from all of the congeners occurring in the region by lacking a carapace pattern in combination with lacking leg annulations.Its male can be easily distinguished from the congeners occurring in the region by having a tegular bump (Tb), almost equally long longitudinal terminal (Ta) and radical (Ra) apophyses (vs different in length or not elongate), and by having a kind of tooth (Rt) on the tip of radical apophysis.The female of the new species differs from all other species known in the region by having an arch-shaped notch of the plate (Pc), with the plate bearing copulatory openings (vs plate with extension ('scape') bearing copulatory openings).

Etymology
The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, referring to a long mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq and south-eastern Turkey, in which the type locality of the new species is situated.

Diagnosis
In the general conformation of the male palp and particularly the shape of radical apophysis, the new species is most similar to O. ilamensis Zamani, Mirshamsi and  Marusik, 2017, a species so far known only from Ilam Province in western Iran (Zamani et al. 2017).The male palp of the new species differs from that of O. ilamensis by having straight, spine-like subterminal apophysis (St) (vs with bent tip) and abrupt tip of terminal apophysis (Ta) (vs finger-shaped) (compare Figure 7D and Zamani et al. 2017, fig. 1C).

Distribution
Known only from the type locality in Kermanshah Province, western Iran (Figure 9).On the label, the locality is listed as Lorestan Province, while the coordinates refer to another locality in Ilam Province.We consider Dizgaran in Kermanshah to be the correct type locality.

Discussion
Based on the results of this paper, 11 species of Oecobius are known from Iran.Among these, seven species exhibit a similar conformation of the copulatory organs and can be considered to fall within the same species group.These species are as follows: O. cellariorum (Dugès, 1836)  It is important to note that while two of these species are currently known only from males and two are known only from females, we do not believe that they are conspecific, due to their different colouration patterns and distribution range.To verify this, however, it is necessary to collect material of both sexes for these four nominal species.The species newly described from Azerbaijan in this paper, O. naxuanus sp.n., also belongs to this species group, and it represents the first endemic species of this genus from the Caucasus (Otto 2022).
The taxonomy of the group comprising O. ferdowsii will be addressed in a separate publication.Prior to this study, O. ferdowsii was thought to have a widespread distribution in Iran, with material collected from several localities in the south-western, northern, and north-eastern parts of the country.However, our research revealed that the females previously attributed to this species were actually misidentified and are therefore described in this paper as a new species (O.melanocephalus sp.n.).Consequently, O. ferdowsii is now confidently known only from Razavi Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran.The record of this species from Kazakhstan (Fomichev 2022) also appears to be based on a misidentification, likely resulting from the lack of illustration of the ventral aspect of the male palp in the original description.
During the preparation of this paper, we discovered an error in two of our previous works involving male specimens of Oecobius (Marusik et al. 2015;Zamani et al. 2017), and also in Fomichev (2022).Despite using the terminology proposed by Baum (1972), we overlooked that he had depicted the right palps rather than the standard left ones.This oversight led to inaccuracies in identifying the structures of the male palp.Consequently, in those papers, what is originally identified as the radical apophysis is, in fact, the terminal apophysis, and vice versa.Similarly, the designation of the embolus should be attributed to the subterminal apophysis, and vice versa.
Zamani and Marusik, 2018odiensisKritscher, 1966, by having a uniformly dark carapace.The new species differs from O. rhodiensis by dark sternum and venter of abdomen (vs light).The epigyne of the new species is somewhat similar to that of O. fahimiiZamani and Marusik, 2018in the similar position of the sclerotised capsules, but differs by a relatively longer posterior part of 'scape' (Sc), 'hoods' (H) longer than scape is wide, and round sclerotised capsules (Cs) (vs 'scape' wider than 'hoods', sclerotised capsules oval; see Figure3A-D).