The Mediterranean region is a species rich and geographically diverse area. The biogeographical history of this region is complex, and due to migration events includes a mixture of European, Asian and African taxa, as well as many instances of allopatric speciation and local endemism. This mosaic of taxa has arrived and evolved in different geological periods and their origins are often hard to trace. A recent research used molecular phylogeny to study the different taxonomic lineages of the species-rich spider genus Lycosa in the Western Mediterranean and link their migration and speciation events to the regional climatic history. Yet, the taxonomy and phylogeny of Lycosa in the Levant is not clear. During his M.Sc. study on the Lycosidae of Israel, Igor Armiach Steinpress have found across the country Lycosa with phenotypic diversity of size, coloration patterns, genital morphology and burrow construction behavior. Igor’s PhD study includes taxonomical study and key to the species of Lycosa and of the subfamily Evippinae in Israel. In addition Igor is using molecular and morphological methods for species delimitation, identification of the various lineages of present in Israel and hypothesis testing regarding the origin of the great phenotypic diversity of the genus Lycosa in the Levant.
Male of Evippomma simoni Alderweireldt, 1992
3. Armiach Steinpress I.S, Cohen M.T, Pétillon J.C, Chipman A.CPI, and Gavish-Regev E.PI, 2022. Lycosa Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Lycosidae) of Israel, with a note on Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904. European Journal of Taxonomy, 832, 1–54. doi:10.5852/ejt.2022.832.1877.
2. Armiach Steinpress I., Alderweireldt M., Cohen M., Chipman A., and Gavish-Regev E., 2021. Synopsis of the Evippinae (Araneae, Lycosidae) of Israel, with description of a new species. European Journal of Taxonomy, 733, 87–124. doi:10.5852/ejt.2021.733.1225 .
1. Armiach I., Bernstein I., Tang I., Dayan T., and Gavish-Regev E. 2016. Activity-density data reveal community structure of Lycosidae at a Mediterranean shrubland. Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters, 52, 16–24. doi:10.5431/aramit5204