Masaris carli von Schulthess, 1922

Masaris saussurei Carl, 1921: 449, ♀ ♂ (type locality: “ Zarawchan; ... Sutkend. Turkestan” [Uzbekistan]), nom. praeocc., nec Masaris saussurei Brauns, 1905 .

Masaris carli von Schulthess, 1922: 404, replacement name for M. saussurei Carl, 1921, nec Brauns, 1905.

Masaris smirnovi Kostylev, 1925: 152, fig. 2, ♂ (type locality: “Perovsk (Turkestan, Syr-Darjja-Gebiet)” [Kazakhstan]), synonymized by Kostylev 1935b: 87.

Masaris elegans Gusenleitner, 2002: 322, figs 3–9, ♀ ♂ (type locality: “ Turkmenistan, Farab”), syn. nov.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE Of MASARIS SMIRNOVI: ♂, labeled “[golden disc] // Dist. Perovsk [Kyzylorda] / 29 V 923. / S. Tarbinskij // Москва / Зоологический / МУЗей МГУ [Moscow, Zoological Museum MSU] // тип [typus] / Masaris / smirnovi Kost. / = M. carli Schult / синон. Устан. / Ю. Костылев [synonymy established by G. Kostylev] / 23 VI 41 [G. Kostylev’s signature] // Masaris / smirnovi / n. sp. / Typus // Holotype ♂ / Masaris smirnovi / Kostylev, 1925 [red label]” [ZMMU]. Additional material. UZBEKISTAN: Bukhara Region, Khargush [Xargoʻsh], 27.V.1928, 1 ♀, leg. A. Gerasimov [ZISP]. KAZAKHSTAN: Aktobe Province: Turgay Oblast, Aja, 17.VIII.1899, 1 ♂, leg. P. Sushkin [ZISP]. Ulytau Province: S Jezkazgan, S part of Samenkum Sands, 29.V.1962, 1 ♂, leg. V. Tobias [ZIPS]. Kyzylorda Province: Baigakum bei Djulek, 1.V.1907, 1 ♀, leg. L. Wollmann [ZISP] ; ibid., 10.V.1908, 1 ♀, leg. L. Wollmann [ZISP]; ibid., 11.V.1908, 2 ♀, leg. L. Wollmann [ZISP]; ibid., 12.V.1908, 1 ♀, 1 ♂, leg. L. Wollmann [ZISP]; Terenj-Uzjak, 30.V.1925, 1 ♂, leg. A. Zhelochovtsev [ZMMU]; Perovsk [ Kyzylorda], 18.V.1928, 2 ♂, leg. V. Popov [ZISP] ; ibid., 21.V.1928, 1 ♂, leg. V. Popov [ZISP]. Jetisu Province: 60 km NE Ushtobe, Karatal River, 8.VI.1986, 1 ♀, leg. V. Kazenas [FSCV]. Almaty Province: 20 km SE Akzhar, 10.VI.1986, 3 ♂, leg. V. Kazenas [FSCV]; vicinity of Akzhar, 44°52′49″N, 75°53′11″E, 397 m, on Halimodendron halodendron, 26.V.2015, 1 ♂, leg. K. Fadeev [ZISP].

Distribution. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan.

Remarks. Gusenleitner (1992, 2002) reported two females of M. carli from Iran but his treatment of this species was obviously incorrect. He apparently did not see the original description of M. saussurei by Carl (1921), where a body size of 11 mm was indicated, and used the key by Richards (1962), where there were just three species of the genus, without indication of their size. In his paper, Gusenleitner (2002) indicated a body size of M. carli of 20 mm. In the same paper, he described a much smaller species, M. elegans, with a body size of 11 mm. Examination of the original descriptions of M. saussurei, M. smirnovi, and M. elegans, as well as the holotype of M. smirnovi and photographs of the male holotype (ZOBODAT 2024a) and a female paratype (ZOBODAT 2024b) of M. elegans revealed that these species were identical.

It is unclear what was mentioned by Gusenleitner (1992, 2002) from Iran, we can speculate that it was an undescribed female of Masaris agnolii Selis, 2019 . It is also a large species and no other species of Masaris Fabricius, 1793 are currently known from Iran. The reports of M. carli from Iran by Carpenter (2001) and Rahmani et al. (2020) were based on Gusenleitner’s (1992, 2002) record. Therefore, M. carli should be excluded from the fauna of Iran.