Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, which are colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as the countries all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan", meaning "land of". The current geographical location of Central Asia was formerly part of the historic region of Turkistan, also known as Turan.
Alopecurus, or foxtail grass, is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family. It is common across temperate and subtropical parts of Eurasia, northern Africa, and the Americas, as well as naturalized in Australia and on various islands.
Gagea is a large genus of spring flowers in the lily family. It is found primarily in Eurasia with a few species extending into North Africa and one species in North America.
Leymus is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae (Gramineae). It is widespread across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Attulus is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1889. The name is a diminutive form of a common prefix for salticid genera, -attus.
Pellenes is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1876. It is considered a senior synonym of Hyllothyene.
Leonurus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, naturalized in New Zealand, Hawaii, New Caledonia, and much of North and South America.
Alopecosa is a spider genus in the family Lycosidae, with about 160 species. They have a largely Eurasian distribution, although some species are found in North Africa and North America.
Drassodes is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Niklas Westring in 1851. They are brown, gray, and red spiders that live under rocks or bark in mostly dry habitats, and are generally 3.8 to 11.6 millimetres long, but can reach up to 20 millimetres (0.79 in) in length.
Eremurus is a genus of deciduous perennial flowers in the family Asphodelaceae. They are also known as the foxtail lilies or desert candles. They are native to eastern Europe in, and temperate Asia from Turkey to China.
Victrix is a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae described by Otto Staudinger in 1879. It may be synonymous with the genus Moureia.
Watsonarctia is a monotypic moth genus in the subfamily Arctiinae erected by Josef J. de Freina and Thomas Joseph Witt in 1984. Its only species, Watsonarctia deserta, the chaste pellicle, was first described by Max Bartel in 1902. It is found in central and south-eastern Europe, southern Russia, southern Siberia east to Lake Baikal; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan and Xinjiang in China.
Bryophila is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. The genus was described by Treitschke in 1825.
Gnaphosa is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804. They all have a serrated keel on the retromargin of each chelicera.
Ziziphora are a genus of annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs in the family Lamiaceae. Ziziphora has aromatic leaves; they are found in open and often xeric habitats in Southern and Eastern Europe, North-West Africa and Asia to the Himalayas and Altai mountains.
Apocynum venetum, commonly known as sword-leaf dogbane, is a plant species in the dogbane family that is poisonous but used as a source of fiber, medicine, and nectar for production of honey.
Drasteria caucasica is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in Romania, north-eastern Bulgaria, southern Moldova, southern Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Daghestan, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrghyzstan, China and Mongolia.
Petrosimonia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Amaranthaceae. It is also in the Salsoloideae tribe.
Sibbaldianthe is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Rosaceae. It is also in the Rosoideae subfamily.
