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Saba Island (Caribbean Netherlands) is one of the northernmost islands of the Lesser Antilles. It is only 13 square kilometers but contains a wide variety of potential spider habitats including dry, moist, and elfin forests. As part of a collaborative effort between Conservation International and Saba Conservation Foundation, during a several week period in March and May 2008 we briefly surveyed the island for spiders and other arthropods. This survey, the first for spiders of Saba, resulted in the identification of 18 families and 76 spider species, including six new species that will be described elsewhere and may be endemic to Saba. The species richness of Saba’s spider fauna is considerably higher than that reported from other small Caribbean islands. We conclude this is probably a combined result of undersampling and lower habitat diversity on these other islands.
The spider genus Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967 (Araneae, Filistatidae) is revised. It was found to include 24 species distributed in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and Central Asia: ♀ Z. afghana (Roewer, 1962) (Afghanistan), ♀ Z. alexandri Brignoli, 1982 (Iran), ♀ Z. akhanii Marusik & Zamani, 2015 (Iran), ♂♀ Z. annulipes (Kulczyński, 1908) (Cyprus), ♂♀ Z. beshkentica (Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1969) (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan), ♀ Z. brignoliana sp. nov. (Iran), ♂♀ Z. ferghanensis sp. nov. (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan), ♀ Z. feti sp. nov. (Turkmenistan), ♀ Z. halepensis sp. nov. (Syria), ♀ Z. huberi sp. nov. (Afghanistan), ♀ Z. inderensis Ponomarev, 2005 (Kazakhstan), ♂♀ Z. kunti sp. nov. (Cyprus, Turkey), ♂♀ Z. logunovi sp. nov. (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), ♂♀ Z. maracandica (Charitonov, 1946) (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan), ♂♀ Z. martynovae (Andreeva & Tyshchenko, 1969) (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), ♀ Z. medica Brignoli, 1982 (Iran), ♂♀ Z. minoica sp. nov. (Greece), ♀ Z. minuta sp. nov. (Uzbekistan), ♀ Z. persica Brignoli, 1982 (Iran), ♂ Z. psammodroma sp. nov. (Turkmenistan), ♂♀ Z. schmitzi (Kulczyński, 1911), the type species (Egypt, Israel), ♂♀ Z. spinimana sp. nov. (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan), ♂♀ Z. wunderlichi sp. nov. (Kyrgyzstan) and ♀ Z. zonsteini Fomichev & Marusik, 1969 (Kazakhstan). Twelve above-listed species are newly described, and males of Z. annulipes, Z. beshkentica, Z. maracandica and Z. martynovae are described for the first time. Two new combinations are established: Z. annulipes (Kulczyński, 1908) comb. nov., ex Filistata, and Pholcoides monticola (Spassky, 1941) comb. nov., ex Zaitunia. New data on distribution of the considered taxa are provided.