Saudi Arabia 2024
 

Until 2024, Saudi Arabia had been among the very few nations worldwide without any published record of Pholcidae. Available collections from Oman and Yemen had suggested that Pholcidae should in fact be common inhabitants of suitable habitats anywhere on the Arabian Peninsula. For example, two weeks of collecting in Oman in 2017 and 2018 resulted in 19 species (16 of them new to science) (Huber 2022; Huber & Meng 2024; Huber & Meng 2025; B.A. Huber, unpublished data). Similar to Saudi Arabia, no pholcid species had been recorded from Oman before. It was thus reasonable to expect a comparable diversity in Saudi Arabia. In March 2024, after years of preparations and delays, I was finally able to visit Saudi Arabia. I concentrated on the Hijaz mountains along the Red Sea coast because this is the most humid region in the country, with a wide range of habitats at different altitudes, and mostly easy to reach due to the excellent infrastructure. I started in Jeddah (Mecca Province) and headed south through Al Bahah and 'Asir Provinces to the Yemeni boder in Najran and Jizan Provinces. Pholcidae were almost everywhere, and I collected at 39 localities ranging from sea level to over 2500 m. In less than three weeks, I collected 20 species of Pholcidae, 14 of them new to science. Particularly diverse were the genera Crossopriza and Micropholcus. Other genera, represented by one or two species each, were Artema, Ninetis, Smeringopus, and Holocnemus. Papers on Micropholcus and Ninetis have been published in the meantime (Huber & Meng 2024; Huber & Meng 2025). I thank Mostafa Sharaf and Abdulrahman Aldawood (King Saud University, Riyad) for support in preparing the trip, and the Alexander Koenig Stiftung (AKS, Bonn) for financial support. .