On Araniella and Neoscona (Araneae, Araneidae) of the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia Author Zamani, Alireza Author Marusik, Yuri M. Author Sestakova, Anna text ZooKeys 2020 906 13 40 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.906.47978 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.906.47978 1313-2970-906-13 EF6D38B4B1A3402BB7642DACCA490AC7 33B523D44A1E5FECBC706B74B9397519 Genus Neoscona Simon, 1864 Neoscona Simon, 1864: 261. Neoscona : Berman and Levi 1971 : 469; Grasshoff 1986 : 4; Tanikawa 1998 : 134. Type species. Epeira arabesca Walckenaer, 1841, fixed by F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1904 : 466. Note. Simon (1864) proposed this genus for nine species currently considered in Larinioides Caporiacco, 1934, Araneus Clerck, 1757 and Neoscona . Although type species were not fixed for any genera described in Simon's book [there were no rules for type fixation at that time], the author used the term 'especes principales' (=main species). Simon (1864) considered "L' epeire scalaire ( neoscona )" (= A. marmoreus Clerck, 1757) as the "main species". Comments. With 124 valid species ( WSC 2019 ), Neoscona is the third largest genus in Araneidae . Only Araneus Clerck, 1757 (595 spp.) and Cyclosa Menge, 1866 (180 spp.) are more speciose. At the same time, it has the highest number of synonyms (114) and nomina dubia (10) ( WSC 2019 ) in comparison to the valid names. The genus has an almost global distribution, unknown only in South America. It is relatively well studied in North America, Africa, China, and Japan due to the revisions by Berman and Levi (1971) , Grasshoff (1986) , Yin et al. (1997) and Tanikawa (1998) , respectively, but remains poorly known in the Central Asia, India, South East Asia and Australia. Although the male palp is rather uniform in shape across the genus, epigynes can be split into two morphotypes, with inflexible scape ( Neoscona s. str.) and with flexible scape ( Afraranea Archer, 1951, a genus currently considered as a synonym of Neoscona in WSC (2019) with reference to Grasshoff (1986) , although the latter author considered Afraranea as a subgenus of Neoscona ). Currently, six species of Neoscona are known in the region: N. adianta (Walckenaer, 1802), N. subfusca (C.L. Koch, 1837), N. theisi (Walckenaer, 1841) (all throughout the region), N. spasskyi (Brignoli, 1983) (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Iran), N. tedgenica (Bakhvalov, 1978) (Turkmenistan) and N. isatis sp. nov. (Iran).