Thomisidae  Sundevall, 1833 / Monaeses  Thorell, 1869   2 species

Monaeses israeliensis Levy, 1973

Description
Male

Ventral tibial apophysis slightly bent, tip a rounded knob. Retrolateral tibial apophysis star-shaped apically. Prosoma length: 2.1 mm, prosoma width: 1.4 mm. Body colouration yellow-grey or white-grey. Opisthosoma somewhat darker than prosoma, venter with dark longitudinal band along its entire length.

Body length male: 6.0-7.0 mm
Female

Epigyne with slightly protruding anterior part, hood-shaped. Prosoma length: 1.9-2.5 mm, Prosoma width: 1.4-1.9 mm.

Body length female: 8.0-9.0 mm
Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Ukraine, Caucasus, Middle East, Iran, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, India, China
Phenology
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
 male  female
Figures
Distribution List
Armenia   (Zarikian et al., 2023b) ||| Azerbaijan   (Nuruyeva & Zamani, 2025) ||| Bulgaria   (Naumova et al., 2021) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Georgia   (Seropian et al., 2023b) ||| Greece   (Buchholz, 2007) ||| Russia, Southern   (Zarikian et al., 2023b) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (van Helsdingen, 2013; Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Fedoriak et al., 2023) |||
References

Bayram A, Danışman T, Bolu H, Özgen İ (2007a) Two records new for the Turkish araneofauna: Tmarus piochardi (Simon, 1866) and Monaeses israeliensis Levy, 1973 (Araneae: Thomisidae). Munis Entomology and Zoology 2: 129-136 pdf

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 pdf

Buchholz S (2007) A first contribution to the arachnofauna (Arachnida: Araneae) of the Nestos Delta (NE Greece). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 59: 241-252 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2025a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2025 [last updated 01 December 2025], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

Demircan Aksan N, Topçu A (2022c) A preliminary checklist of the spider fauna of European Türkiye. Serket 19: 39-56 pdf

Fedoriak M M, Kovblyuk M M, Kastrygina Z A (2023) The first record from Ukraine of the spider Monaeses israeliensis (Aranei, Thomisidae), from the Crimea. Zoodiversity 57: 379-382 pdf

Helsdingen P J van (2013) A quick scan of the spider fauna of the European part of Turkey. Nieuwsbrief SPINED 33: 29-38 pdf

Levy G (1973) Crab-spiders of six genera from Israel (Araneae: Thomisidae). Israel Journal of Zoology 22: 107-141 pdf

Naumova M, Blagoev G, Deltshev D (2021) Fifty spider species new to the Bulgarian fauna, with a review of some dubious species (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 4984: 228-257 pdf

Nuruyeva T, Zamani A (2025) An annotated checklist of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Azerbaijan. Zootaxa 5680: 1-168 pdf

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

Seropian A, Bulbulashvili N, Otto S, Krammer H-J, Kachlishvili N, Datunashvili A (2023b) Picking pearls from the Silk Road: insights into the spider (Arachnida, Araneae) diversity in Georgia from the Caucasus barcode of life project. Part II. Caucasiana 2: 231-297 pdf

WSC (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (13.2.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Zarikian N A, Kosyan A, Marusik Y M (2023b) New records of spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) from Armenia. 1. Ten genera and 20 species of the families Araneidae, Theridiidae and Thomisidae. Euroasian Entomological Journal 22: 141-149 pdf

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