Alireza Zamani | |
|---|---|
 Alireza Zamani at the 2nd Iranian International Congress of Entomology, September 2017 | |
| Born | January 11, 1994 |
| Citizenship | Iran |
| Alma mater | University of Tehran (B.Sc., M.Sc.) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Arachnology |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Zamani |
Alireza Zamani (born 11 January 1994) is an Iranian arachnologist and taxonomist. [1] [2]
Zamani has been interested in spiders since childhood, when he spent most of his time collecting and rearing different species that he could collect from the family garden. [3] Influenced by his high school biology teacher, he decided to study animal biology at the University of Tehran in order to pursue his arachnological interests. [4]
Zamani has co-recorded over 430 new taxa for the fauna of Iran, [5] [6] and has described over 150 new species of spiders, harvestmen, whip spiders and pseudoscorpions, [7] [8] [9] [10] more noticeably Filistata maguirei and Pritha garfieldi of the family Filistatidae, named after the former Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, [11] [12] Lycosa aragogi of the family Lycosidae, named after Aragog, the fictional spider from the Harry Potter novel series by J. K. Rowling, [13] Loureedia phoenixi of the family Eresidae, named after the actor Joaquin Phoenix, for a color pattern which resembles the movie character Joker from D.C. Comics, [14] Scytodes kumonga of the family Scytodidae, named after the spider kaiju Kumonga, a recurring monster in the Godzilla franchise by Toho (Kumonga's scientific name in Godzilla Singular Point, Kumonga scytodes, pays homage to this species), [15] [16] and Loxosceles coheni of the family Sicariidae, named after the singer-songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen. [17]
Zamani has authored The Field Guide of Spiders and Scorpions of Iran, which is the first field guide devoted to the arachnids of the Middle East, containing information on more than 230 species of both orders. [18] He is the senior author of the catalog of Iranian spiders and the country coordinator of Iran in the World Spider Catalog project. [19] [20]
Kumonga is a mutated, enormous spider-like kaiju that first appeared in Toho's 1967 film Son of Godzilla and went on to appear in the films Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack and Godzilla: Final Wars. In the English dub version of Son of Godzilla, Kumonga is referred to as Spiga, while subsequent films refer to it by its original name.
Pritha garfieldi is a species of araneomorph spiders in the family Filistatidae.
Zaitunia akhanii is a species of the araneomorph spider family Filistatidae.
Sahastata sinuspersica is a species of the araneomorph spider family Filistatidae.
Sahastata is a genus of crevice weavers that was first described by Pierre L.G. Benoit in 1968.
Anemesia is a genus of Asian wafer trapdoor spiders that was first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1895.
Paratheuma is a genus of cribellate araneomorph spiders in the family Dictynidae, and was first described by E. B. Bryant in 1940. Originally placed with the ground spiders, it was transferred to the intertidal spiders in 1975, and to the Dictynidae in 2016.
Duninia is a genus of Asian tree trunk spiders that was first described by Yuri M. Marusik & Victor R. Fet in 2009.
Hersiliola is a genus of tree trunk spiders that was first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1870.
Scyloxes is a genus of Tajikistani spitting spiders containing three species. It was first described by P. M. Dunin in 1992 and remained a monotypic genus until 2022, when Zamani et al. moved two species into the genus, S. magna and S. zhaoi, from Scytodes and Stedocys, respectively. It is found in Tajikistan, Malaysia and Thailand.
Lycosa aragogi is a species of the araneomorph spider family Lycosidae endemic to Kerman Province, Iran. The female holotype measured 26mm,, with two black and three white stripes of setae on its cephalothorax, black setae on its chelicerae, and scattered dots and patterns of black and white setae on its abdomen.
Callipelis is a genus of ground spiders containing the single species, Callipelis deserticola. It was first described by Alireza Zamani & Yuri M. Marusik in 2017, and is only found in Iran.
Iranotricha is a genus of ground spiders containing the single species, Iranotricha lutensis. It was first described by Alireza Zamani & Yuri M. Marusik in 2018, and is only found in the Lut Desert, Iran.
Scytodes kumonga is a species of spider in the Scytodidae family native to Iran. It was described in 2020. The specific name kumonga refers to the spider kaiju Kumonga, a recurring monster in the Godzilla franchise by Toho which can spit silk in a similar manner to spitting spiders to ensnare opponents, whose name in turn is derived from the Japanese word for 'spider', kumo (クモ). Kumonga's binomial name in Godzilla Singular Point, Kumonga scytodes, pays homage to this species.
Ecurobius is a monotypic genus of Middle Eastern tangled nest spiders containing the single species, Ecurobius parthicus. It was first described by Alireza Zamani and Yuri M. Marusik in 2021, and it has only been found in Iran.
Persiscape is a genus of funnel weavers first described by Alireza Zamani and Yuri M. Marusik in 2020.
Zagrotes is a genus of Iranian ground spiders, first described by Alireza Zamani, Maria Chatzaki, Sergei L. Esyunin and Yuri M. Marusik in 2021.
Sestakovaia is a small genus of liocranid sac spiders first described by Alireza Zamani and Yuri M. Marusik in 2021. As of December 2021 it contains only two species: S. annulipes and S. hyrcania. This genus is named after the Slovakian arachnologist Anna Šestáková.
Bosselaerius is a genus of Asian spiders in the family Phrurolithidae. It was first described by Alireza Zamani and Yuri M. Marusik in 2020. As of March 2022 it contains only three species: B. daoxianensis, B. hyrcanicus, and B. tajikistanicus.
Yuri Mikhailovitch Marusik is a Russian arachnologist.
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