
The lynx spiders genera Oxyopes Latreille, 1804 and Peucetia Thorell, 1869 and the nursery-web spiders of the genera Pisaura Simon, 1885 and Rothus Simon, 1898 in Israel are revised. These versatile hunters form a conspicuous component of the Middle East vegetation-dwelling spider fauna. Oxyopes is represented by nine species. Only three out of these were formerly reported while the unknown female of one (O. sobrinus O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) is described here for the first time. Three are new species: O. nanulineatus , O. sinaiticus and O. mediterraneus , and three others constitute new records of species with rather disjunct distributions. Oxyopes optabilis O. P.-Cambridge, 1872 is newly synonymized with O. heterophthalmus (Latreille, 1804), whereas O. attica Hadjissarantos, 1940, O. maracadensis Charitonov, 1946, and O . eymiri Karol, 1967 are new synonyms of O. globifer Simon, 1876. Peucetia was known from Israel only by P . virescens (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872), however, the male is illustrated here for the first time. Two additional Peucetia species form new records. The possibly endemic Pisaura consocia (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) and the taxonomically problematic Palearctic P. mirabilis (Clerck, 1757) are addressed, and the first representative in Asia of the African genus Rothus is described.
Araneae, Oxyopes, Peucetia, Pisaura, Rothus, Middle East.