A new species of spider named after Leonard
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 5:10 pm

I am Alireza Zamani, an arachnologist and researcher at University of
Turku [, Finland], and a fellow Leonard Cohen fan. Recently, I have paid homage to
Leonard by dedicating one of my newly discovered species to him. Here is the online
link: https://academic.oup.com/jme/advance-ar ... m=fulltext
‘Burning Violin’: The Medically Important Spider Genus Loxosceles (Araneae: Sicariidae) in Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan, With Two New Species
by Alireza Zamani, Omid Mirshamsi, Yuri M Marusik
Journal of Medical Entomology, tjaa257, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaa257
Published:10 December 2020
Abstract
The taxonomic status of the medically important spider genus Loxosceles Heineken et Lowe, 1832 (Sicariidae) in Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan is revised. Two species are described as new to science: Loxosceles coheni sp. n. (♂♀, southwestern Iran) and Loxosceles turanensis sp. n. (♂♀, southern Turkmenistan and eastern Iran). Additionally, Loxosceles alicea Gertsch, 1967 syn. n. (♀, Peru) is synonymized with Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820). The local distribution of all treated species is mapped (including several new records), and reported cases of loxoscelism from this region are briefly reviewed.