Agelena Walckenaer, 1805

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 : 370

Agelena Walckenaer, 1805

Agelena: Lehtinen 1967: 346 ; Zhu, Wang & Zhang 2017: 66.

Type species: Araneus labyrinthicus Clerck, 1757 by original designation.

Remarks: Agelena , with 48 valid species, is the largest genus in Agelenini. It is known from Africa, the Palaearctic and south Asia ( India, Nepal and South-East Asia). Almost half of the species are known by one sex, or even juveniles (21♀, 2♂, 1 juv.). Judging by the shape of the copulatory organs, it seems that all species occurring outside of the Palaearctic, and some Palaearctic species, are misplaced in the genus. Below, we provide a diagnosis only for species which have male palps similar to that in the generotype: A. babai Tanikawa, 2005 , A. chayu Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2005, A. cuspidata Zhang, Zhu & Song, 2005, A. labyrinthica (Clerck, 1757) , A. limbata Thorell, 1897 , A. orientalis C. L. Koch, 1837 , and A. sylvatica Oliger, 1983 .

Diagnosis: Males of Agelena can be distinguished from other Agelenini by having a prolateral bulge on the bulb (embolic base extending the tegulum), which is lacking in other genera.