Damastes (spider)

Damastes is a genus of East African huntsman spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1880.[2] It is classified under the family Sparassidae, though its subfamilial classification remains unclear.[3][4] The subspecies Damastes coquereli affinis is a nomen dubium.[5]

This article is about the genus of spiders. For the character in Greek mythology, see Procrustes.

Damastes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Sparassidae
Genus: Damastes
Simon, 1880[1]
Type species
D. grandidieri
Simon, 1880
Species

16, see text

Species

As of September 2019 it contains sixteen species, found on the Seychelles, in Mozambique, and on Madagascar:[1]

  • Damastes atrignathus Strand, 1908 – Madagascar
  • Damastes coquereli Simon, 1880 – Madagascar
  • Damastes decoratus (Simon, 1897) – Madagascar
  • Damastes fasciolatus (Simon, 1903) – Madagascar
  • Damastes flavomaculatus Simon, 1880 – Madagascar
  • Damastes grandidieri Simon, 1880 (type) – Madagascar
  • Damastes majungensis Strand, 1907 – Madagascar
  • Damastes malagassus (Fage, 1926) – Madagascar
  • Damastes malagasus (Karsch, 1881) – Madagascar
  • Damastes masculinus Strand, 1908 – Madagascar
  • Damastes nigrichelis (Strand, 1907) – Mozambique
  • Damastes nossibeensis Strand, 1907 – Madagascar
  • Damastes oswaldi Lenz, 1891 – Madagascar
  • Damastes pallidus (Schenkel, 1937) – Madagascar
  • Damastes sikoranus Strand, 1906 – Madagascar
  • Damastes validus (Blackwall, 1877) – Seychelles

Trapping prey

An unspecified Damastes species has been observed in the Sava Region of northeast Madagascar predating on vertebrates (frogs, Heterixalus andrakata).[6][7][8] The same spider - and others of the same species - also build structures of leaves and silk and hide in the back of them.[6][7][8] It is speculated that these are traps for catching these frogs.[6][7][8]

See also

References
  1. "Gen. Damastes Simon, 1880". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. 2019. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
  2. Simon, E. (1880). "Révision de la famille des Sparassidae (Arachnides)". Actes de la Société Linnéenne de Bordeaux. 34: 223–351.
  3. Peter Jäger (2002). "Heteropodinae: Transfers and Synonymies (Arachnida: Araneae: Sparassidae" (PDF). Acta Arachnologica. 51 (1): 33–61. doi:10.2476/asjaa.51.33.
  4. Peter Jäger (1997). "First results of a taxonomic revision of the SE Asian Sparassidae (Araneae)" (PDF). Proceedings of the 17th European Colloquium of Arachnology, Edinburgh 1997: 53–59. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-26.
  5. Strand, E. (1907). "Diagnosen neuer Spinnen aus Madagaskar und Sansibar". Zoologischer Anzeiger. 31: 725–748.
  6. Buehler, Jake (2021-01-04). "These spiders may sew leaves into fake shelters to lure frogs to their doom". Science News. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  7. Yirka, Bob (2021-01-11). "Evidence of huntsman spider creating leaf trap for a frog found in Madagascar". Phys.org. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  8. Fulgence, Thio Rosin; Martin, Dominic Andreas; Kreft, Holger; Ratsoavina, Fanomezana Mihaja; Andrianarimisa, Aristide (2020-12-11). "Spider traps amphibian in northeastern Madagascar". Ecology and Evolution. Wiley Publishing. 11 (2): 682–687. doi:10.1002/ece3.7102. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 7820146. PMID 33520157.


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