Benoitia tadzhika ( Andreeva, 1976 ) Zamani, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2020

Zamani, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2020, A review of Agelenini (Araneae: Agelenidae: Ageleninae) of Iran and Tajikistan, with descriptions of four new genera, Arachnology 18 (4), pp. 368-386 : 386

Benoitia tadzhika ( Andreeva, 1976) comb. n.

Agelena tadzhika Andreeva 1976: 33 , figs. 38–41 (♂♀).

Remarks: This species is known from a single taxonomic entry. It was described based on 16 specimens from southern Tajikistan. Later, it was reported from Kalmykia ( Minoranski & Ponomarev 1984) and several localities in northwestern Kazakhstan ( Piterkina & Mikhailov 2009; Ponomarev & Dvadnenko 2013). The original description and figures of the male palp and epigyne indicate that it is misplaced in Agelena and belongs to Benoitia (twisted conductor, epigynal fovea divided by septum). Therefore, we suggest a new combination. Because B. tadzhika is unknown between southern Tajikistan and northwestern Kazakhstan, and that specimens from distant populations have never been compared, it is quite possible that Kazakhstan and Kalmykia specimens belong to separate species.