Marusik Yu.M.1, Guseinov E.F.2 2003. Spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) of Azerbaijan. 1. New family and genus records // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.12. No.1: 29–46 [in English].
1 Institute for Biological Problems of the North, Portovaya Str. 18, Magadan 685000 Russia. E-mail: yurmar@mail.ru
2 Institute of Zoology, block 504, passage 1128, Baku 370073 Azerbaijan.
ABSTRACT. Twenty genera and seven families (Desidae, Leptonetidae, Mysmenidae, Nesticidae, Palpimanidae, Prodidomidae and Theridiosomatidae) new to Azerbaijan are reported. 16 genera and 4 families are new to Caucasus. Five genera are new to the former Soviet Union (Lycosoides, Mysmena, Orchestina, Trygetus and Tuberta) and two genera (Mysmena and Tuberta) are new to Asia as a whole. Three species are described as new to science: Lycosoides lehtineni sp.n. (♀), Paracedicus feti sp.n. (♂♀) and Trygetus jacksoni sp.n. (♀) and 5 species are redescribed or/and illustrated: Leptonetella caucasica Dunin, 1990 ? (♀), Howaia mogera (Yaginuma, 1972) (♂♀), Nesticella nepalensis (Hubert, 1973) (♂ from India), Orchestina sp. (♀) and Palpimanus sogdianus Charitonov, 1946 ? (♂♀). The female possibly belonging to L. caucasica is described for the first time. Status of two subgenera of Cedicus Simon, 1875 is raised to generic level: Paracedicus Fet, 1993 stat.n., Cedicoides Charitonov, 1946 stat.n. Howaia Lehtinen et Saaristo, 1980 is removed from synonymy with Nesticella Lehtinen et Saaristo, 1980. New combinations were established for four species Paracedicus ephthalitus (Fet, 1993) comb.n., Paracedicus gennadii (Fet, 1993) comb.n. Cedicoides parthus (Fet, 1993) comb.n. and Cedicoides maerens (Simon, 1889) comb.n. ex Cedicus. Cryphoeca thaleri Wunderlich, 1995 was reported from Kabardino-Balkaria for the first time for Caucasus and former USSR. It was found that Howaia mogera (Yaginuma, 1972) has a Caucaso-Pacific disjunctive range.
KEY WORDS: Aranei, spiders, Caucasus, Azerbaijan, new records, new species.