Login
Login

Damastes (spider)

{{about|the genus of spiders|the character in Greek mythology|Procrustes}}

{{Short description| Genus of spiders}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Damastes

| authority = Simon, 1880

| type_species = D. grandidieri

| type_species_authority = Simon, 1880

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = 16, see text

}}

Damastes is a genus of East African huntsman spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1880.{{cite journal| last=Simon| first=E.| year=1880| title=Révision de la famille des Sparassidae (Arachnides)| journal=Actes de la Société Linnéenne de Bordeaux| pages=223–351| volume=34| author-link=Eugène Simon}} It is classified under the family Sparassidae, though its subfamilial classification remains unclear.{{cite journal|author=Peter Jäger|year=2002|title=Heteropodinae: Transfers and Synonymies (Arachnida: Araneae: Sparassidae|journal=Acta Arachnologica|volume=51|issue=1|pages=33–61|url=http://www.senckenberg.de/files/content/forschung/abteilung/terrzool/arachnologie/heteropodinae_jaeger_2002.pdf|doi=10.2476/asjaa.51.33|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|author=Peter Jäger |year=1997 |title=First results of a taxonomic revision of the SE Asian Sparassidae (Araneae) |journal=Proceedings of the 17th European Colloquium of Arachnology, Edinburgh 1997 |pages=53–59 |url=http://www.european-arachnology.org/proceedings/17th/6Jager.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426055523/http://www.european-arachnology.org/proceedings/17th/6Jager.pdf |archivedate=2012-04-26 }} The subspecies Damastes coquereli affinis is a nomen dubium.{{cite journal| last=Strand| first=E.| year=1907| title=Diagnosen neuer Spinnen aus Madagaskar und Sansibar| journal=Zoologischer Anzeiger| volume=31| pages=725–748| author-link=Embrik Strand}}

Species

{{as of|2019|09}} it contains sixteen species, found on the Seychelles, in Mozambique, and on Madagascar:{{cite journal| title=Gen. Damastes Simon, 1880| website=World Spider Catalog Version 20.0| accessdate=2019-10-13| year=2019| publisher=Natural History Museum Bern| url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/3105| doi=10.24436/2}}

Trapping prey{{anchor|Trapping}}{{anchor|Prey}}

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

See also

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web | last=Buehler | first=Jake | title=These spiders may sew leaves into fake shelters to lure frogs to their doom | website=Science News | date=2021-01-04 | url=http://www.sciencenews.org/article/hunstman-spiders-leaves-fake-shelters-frogs | access-date=2021-01-12}}

{{cite web | last=Yirka | first=Bob | title=Evidence of huntsman spider creating leaf trap for a frog found in Madagascar | website=Phys.org | date=2021-01-11 | url=http://phys.org/news/2021-01-evidence-huntsman-spider-leaf-frog.html | access-date=2021-01-12}}

{{cite journal | last1=Fulgence | first1=Thio Rosin | last2=Martin | first2=Dominic Andreas | last3=Kreft | first3=Holger | last4=Ratsoavina | first4=Fanomezana Mihaja | last5=Andrianarimisa | first5=Aristide | title=Spider traps amphibian in northeastern Madagascar | journal=Ecology and Evolution | publisher=Wiley Publishing | date=2020-12-11 | volume=11 | issue=2 | pages=682–687 | issn=2045-7758 | doi=10.1002/ece3.7102 | pmid=33520157 | pmc=7820146 | doi-access=free }}

}}

{{Taxonbar| from=Q5212055}}

Category:Sparassidae genera

Category:Spiders of Africa

Category:Taxa named by Eugène Simon

{{Sparassidae-stub}}