Introduction

Synaphridae Wunderlich, 1986 is a small family with three genera and 12 species known from the Mediterranean region (including adjacent territories: the Canary Islands and western Turkmenistan) and Madagascar (cf. Platnick 2011). The most species-rich genus in the family is Synaphris, containing 10 species: eight from the Mediterranean (from the Canary Islands to western Turkmenistan) and two from Madagascar. Its type species, Synaphris letourneuxi (Simon, 1884), was originally described in Grammonota Emerton, 1882, a linyphiid genus. A decade later after the species description a new genus was suggested for it (Simon 1894). This genus was later considered within the Theridiidae and Symphytognathidae, until Wunderlich (1986) placed it in a separate subfamily of Anapidae. The group was given family status by Marusik and Lehtinen (2003). Less than a decade ago, this family was known exclusively from the south-western Palaearctic. Recently, Miller (2007) reported this family from Madagascar and described two species of Synaphris and one new monotypic genus, Africepheia Miller, 2007. This finding suggests that the Synaphridae are more widespread than previously assumed and probably also occur in eastern Africa.

While studying material collected in Israel by pitfall traps we identified over two dozen specimens belonging to Synaphris and initially thought they might be Synaphris letourneuxi, the species described from Egypt and known only from the male holotype. A detailed examination of our specimens, as well as their comparison with the literature and all the available material, has revealed them to belong to an unknown species. This study surveys all the species currently known from the East- Mediterranean region and describes a new species.

Material and methods

Digital photographs of general appearance and copulatory organs were taken using an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope with an Olympus E-520 camera and prepared using the CombineZP software. These photographs were taken in alcohol, in dishes with paraffin at the bottom. Different-sized hollows were made at the bottom to maintain the specimens in the desired position. Scanning electron photos were taken using the SEM JEOL JSM-5200 scanning microscope at the Zoological Museum, University of Turku. All measurements are in mm. Type material will be deposited at the Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University (TAU), the National Spider Collection at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem (HUJ), Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum (GNM) and the Zoological Museum, University of Moscow (ZMMU). The terminology follows Marusik and Lehtinen (2003). Only one abbreviation has been used on the figures: La – lamella. All measurements are in mm.

Taxonomic survey

To date, three species of Synaphris have been known from the East-Mediterranean region (east of 20°E) (cf. Platnick 2011). All of them are known from type localities only. A synopsis of these species including the new one is given below.

Conclusions

All Synaphris species are very similar in general appearance and differ only in details of the terminal part of the bulbus and shape of the lamella; the latter is yet known only in Synaphris wunderlichi sp. n. Females are known in a few species, making it impossible to provide an identification key for the entire genus, or even for the species occurring in the East Mediterranean. Nevertheless, the species living eastward of 20°E can be easily differentiated by their sizes (Table 1)

Interestingly, all the Synaphris species described from the Palaearctic Region, except for Synaphris lehtineni known from two localities (see Map 1) are known from a single locality, whereas both species from Madagascar were found in several localities, even on the opposite sides of the island. The same holds true for Cepheia longiseta (Simon, 1881), which is known from at least seven separate localities, from south-west Portugal to Switzerland (Lopardo et al. 2007). In the Palaearctic Region all Synaphris species are allopatric, whereas in Madagascar there are four localities in which both Synaphris schlingeri Miller, 2007 and Synaphris toliara Miller, 2007 co-occur (see Miller 2007).

Given that all the Palaearctic species have a very local distribution, it is likely that any new findings may represent a new species. We expect a true species diversity of Synaphris to be at least twofold its presently known one.