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The paper is a review of the genus Pellenes ( s . lat .) in the fauna of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The genus Pellenes ( s . lat .) is redefined and subdivided into four subgenera according to the structure of genitalia: Pellenes ( s . str .), Pelpaucus subgen. nov., Pelmultus subgen. nov. and Pelmirus subgen. nov. Altogether 23 species have been treated, of which nine are described as new to science: Pellenes amazonka sp. nov. (female), P. badkhyzicus sp. nov. (male), P. borisi sp. nov. (female), P. karakumensis sp. nov. (male), P. bonus sp. nov. (male), P. pamiricus sp. nov. (male and female), P. pseudobrevis sp. nov. (male and female), P. sytchevskayae sp. nov. (male and female) and P. turkmenicus sp. nov. (male and female). Five species are newly synonymized: P. maderianus Kulczynski, 1905 with P . epularis (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872); P. kulabicus Andreeva, 1976 and P . simoni (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) with P. geniculatus (Simon, 1868); and P. albomaculatus Peng and Xie, 1993 with P. denisi Schenkel, 1963; P. tauricus (Thorell, 1875) is removed from synonymy with P. simoni (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) and is shown to be a junior synonym of P. nigrociliatus (Simon in L. Koch, 1875). A lectotype is designated for Pellenes brevis Simon, 1868. P. campylophorous (Thorell, 1875) is recognized to be nomen dubium . Pellenes calvus (Simon, 1868) is excluded from the Central Asian fauna of Pellenes . Evarcha lapponica (Sundevall, 1832), comb. nov. (ex Pellenes ), is proposed. Some morphological terms, e.g. the median septum, the epigynal flaps, the central blindending pocket and the newly proposed 'compound terminal apophysis', are discussed in relation to their homology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]