Hersiliola Thorell, 1870

Marusik, Yuri & Fet, Victor, 2009, A survey of East Palaearctic Hersiliola Thorell, 1870 (Araneae, Hersiliidae), with a description of three new genera, ZooKeys 16 (16), pp. 75-114 : 78-81

Hersiliola Thorell, 1870

Type species. Aranea macullulata Dufour, 1831 , from Spain.

Diagnosis. Hersiliola can be easily distinguished from other Palaearctic hersiliid genera by short spinnerets (shorter than abdomen length) and the shape of copulatory organs: discoid tegulum; long, whip-like coiled embolus; a small tegular apophysis perpendicular to the axis of the palp; insemination ducts coiled around fertilization ducts and uncoiled upper loop. The other three Central Asian genera of Hersiliidae (described here) have either a globular tegulum or have more than one tegular apophysis and uncoiled insemination ducts. From habitually similar African genera ( Tama Simon, 1882 and Tyrotama Foord & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2005 ), Hersiliola can be distinguished by a digitate cymbium; presence of a hook-like median tegular apophysis; flattened bulbus of the male palp [=discoid tegulum]; a filiform, elongate, spirally coiled embolus; elongate, coiled copulatory ducts; small [relatively smaller] seminal receptacles ( Foord and Dippenaar-Schoeman 2005); and some somatic characters. See Foord and Dippenaar- Schoeman (2005) for a detailed redescription of the genus and the type species. See also below for the studied material of the type species and comments on its distribution.

Comments. For a long time this genus, as well as the Afrotropical Tama , was diagnosed as a hersiliid with short spinnerets (shorter than abdomen length). All species with short spinnerets were placed in these two genera until Foord and Dippenaar- Schoeman (2005) recognized that species from southern Africa have copulatory organs and some somatic characters very different from Hersiliola and Tama , and described a new genus Tyrotama .

Composition. Here, we assign nine species to Hersiliola , including four new species: H. afghanica Roewer, 1960 (♀, Afghanistan); H. esyunini sp. n. (♁ ♀, Uzbekistan); H. foordi sp. n. (♀, southern Iran); H. lindbergi sp. n. (♀, Afghanistan); H. macullulata

( Dufour, 1831) (♁ ♀, Spain, Algeria, Libya, Mali, Israel, Yemen); H. simoni (O.P.- Cambridge, 1872) (♁ ♀, from Morocco to Israel); H. sternbergsi sp. n. (♁ ♀, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan); H. versicolor ( Blackwall, 1865) (♀, Cape Verde); and H. xinjiangenis ( Liang & Wang, 1989) (♁ ♀, Xinjiang, China). Of these, two species, H. foordi sp. n. and H. lindbergi sp. n., known only from females, could in fact belong to other genera. It is very likely that actual diversity of Hersiliola is higher, and it seems that some junior synonyms could be revalidated. Hersiliola pallida Kroneberg, 1875 is transferred to a new genus, Ovtsharenkoia gen. n. (see below).

Distinguishing characters. Species of Hersiliola can be distinguished by the shape of the copulatory organs. The most important diagnostic characters in the male palp are as follows: (1) position of the embolic base; (2) number of embolic coils; (3) shape and position of tegular apophysis; and (4) size of cymbial terminal part. In females, the most important characters are: (1) shape of median plate; (2) number of coils of insemination duct; (3) shape and size of spermathecae; and (4) position of insemination duct attachment to the spermathecae.

Distribution. The genus is found in Europe (Iberian Peninsula), Africa ( Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger), and Asia (from Middle East to Xinjiang). The northern limit of its distribution lies in Xinjiang (44°N). Two Mediterranean species have wide ranges within North Africa and the Middle East. Only one Central Asian species, H. sternbergsi sp. n., has a fairly large range. All other species are known either from a single locality or from a few closely located points.