identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
440308266A38560AA4D0CCD7AE73BECD.text	440308266A38560AA4D0CCD7AE73BECD.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Damastes leo (Simon 1903) Uharov & Wiśniewski & Trębicki & Jäger 2026	<div><p>Damastes leo (Simon, 1903) comb. nov.</p><p>Figs 1 A – D, 2 A – F, 3 A – F, 4 A – F</p><p>Megaloremmius leo Simon, 1903: 1025 (Description of female; holotype female from <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=49.731335&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=-15.4354725" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 49.731335/lat -15.4354725)">Antongil</a> [ca 15°26'7.7"S, 49°43'52.8"E, 15 m a. s. l.], Madagascar, MNHN 1624-21398; examined) . Jäger and Kunz 2005: 167, figs 103–108 (illustration of female).</p><p>Material examined.</p><p>Madagascar • 1 ♂; Ranomafana National Park, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=47.420002&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=-21.320002" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 47.420002/lat -21.320002)">Valohoaka site</a>; 21°19'12.0"S, 47°25'12.0"E (ca 1 km accuracy); ca 1100 m a. s. l.; 27 Nov. 2024; George Toussaint leg.; night, in litter, hand collected; BOLD / GenBank: [AFARA 115-25]; SMF • 1 ♀, Ranomafana National Park, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=47.4215&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=-21.25825" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 47.4215/lat -21.25825)">by Namorona River</a>; 21°15'29.7"S, 47°25'17.4"E; 920 m a. s. l.; 25 Nov. 2024; Konrad Wiśniewski leg.; night, hand collected, in the tree top, ca 10 m above ground level, collected from the bridge over Namorona; BOLD / GenBank: [AFARA 116-25]; SMF .</p><p>Diagnosis.</p><p>The species is highly characteristic due to its large size, dense and long setae, and the clypeus covered densely with orange-red setae. Compared with all other Damastes, it is larger and more robust, with a more convex carapace (Fig. 2 E). The male pedipalp of D. leo (Fig. 3 A – D) is similar to that of Damastes validus (Fig. 5 A, B), sharing the general arrangement of the pedipalpal elements, such as the embolus and conductor, with the embolus base bulging retrolaterally, but can be distinguished by: 1. Conductor wider at its base, narrowing strongly towards tip (generally narrower and of more equal width in D. validus); 2. Embolus base forming prolaterally a shallow U-shaped margin (forming a distinct elongated U-shaped margin in D. validus). The female copulatory organ of D. leo (Figs 3 E, 3 F, 4 A – F) resemble that of D. validus (Fig. 5 C – G) in having a similar structure of the internal duct system, i. e. the copulatory ducts firstly running posterior from the antero-laterally situated openings, then running in a sigmoid double turn, after that running as a broad duct along the median line to the posterior part with some postero-lateral coils before entering the fertilization ducts dorso-posteriorly, but can be distinguished by: 1. Distance between ducts clearly separated (situated close to each other in D. validus). 2. Lateral lobes protruding beyond the epigastric furrow posteriorly (not so in D. validus). 3. Glandular appendages ventrad (dorsad in D. validus).</p><p>Description of male.</p><p>Spider large, total length 29.2; carapace longer than wide, convex; brownish black in living specimens (Fig. 1 C); brown to dark brown in preserved specimens (Fig. 2 A – C); clypeus relatively high for Damastes, i. e., two times the diameter of AME, yellowish brown (Figs 1 D, 2 B). Legs long, slender, with long, red, brown to bluish-iridescent setae (Fig. 1 C). Pedipalp (Fig. 3 A – D) as in diagnosis. RTA arising subdistally from tibia, wide at base, tapering and slightly curved to ventral side (retrolateral view). Cymbium longer than tibia, bluntly rounded apically. Conductor arising centrally from tegulum, broad at base, tapering, its tip retrolatero-distad, joining embolus at 10: 30. Spermophor not visible due to sclerotization. Embolus arising point at 4: 30, base bulging retrolaterally, semicircular.</p><p>PL 14.5, PW 12.8, AW 8.7, OL 14.7, OW 11.1; Eyes: AME 0.90, ALE 0.71, PME 0.70, PLE 0.69; AME – AME 0.43, AME – ALE 0.90, PME – PME 0.99, PME – PLE 171, AME – PME 0.60, ALE – PLE 0.70, clypeus height at AME 2.03, clypeus height at ALE 1.65. Chelicerae with 3 / 2 promarginal, 5 retromarginal teeth, without denticles.</p><p>Spination: pedipalp: 100, 000, 000; legs: Femur I 203 (302), II 313 (4), III 312, IV 300; Patella 000; Tibia I 0 (2) 006, II 2026, III – IV 2006; Metatarsus I – II 0003, III 1004, IV 1005.</p><p>Measurements of pedipalp and legs: pedipalp 17.6 (5.9, 2.3, 3.3, -, 6.1), I 60.2 (16.2, 7.1, 15.8, 16.9, 4.3), II 62.8 (17.1, 7.2, 16.9, 17.3, 4.3), III 47.3 (14.2, 5.8, 12.3, 11.4, 3.6), IV 47.0 (14.1, 5.4, 11.9, 11.6, 4.0). Leg formula 2134.</p><p>Scars: left tibia IV with 1 round and 1 irregular scar dorsally in distal half.</p><p>Description of female.</p><p>Large spider, total length 35.2, carapace longer than wide, convex, dark brown, clypeus yellow-orange, muted orange in preserved specimens. Legs long, more robust than in male, legs and opisthosoma with dense, reddish-brown setae (Fig. 1 A). Epigyne and internal copulatory organs as in diagnosis and Figs 3 E, 3 F, 4 A – F (compare also: Jäger and Kunz 2005: figs 103–105). Epigynal field trapezoid, distinctly longer than wide, anterior bands patchy, indistinct. Slit sensilla absent. Copulatory openings situated antero-laterally.</p><p>PL 14.7, PW 13.1, AW 9.5, OL 20.5, OW 16.7; Eyes: AME 0.84, ALE 0.62, PME 0.70, PLE 0.62; AME – AME 0.43, AME – ALE 0.95, PME – PME 1.13, PME – PLE 1.89, AME – PME 0.59, ALE – PLE 0.75, clypeus height at AME 1.61, clypeus height at ALE 1.32. Chelicerae with 3 / 2 promarginal, 4 / 3 retromarginal teeth, without denticles.</p><p>Spination: pedipalp: 100, 000, 1000, 2 (1) 010; legs: FE I 113, II 313, III 312 (3), IV 311; PA 000; TI I 0006, II – IV 1006; MT I 0003, II 0004, III 1004, IV 1005.</p><p>Measurements of pedipalp and legs: pedipalp 16.1 (5.1, 2.8, 3.1, —, 5.1), I 47.8 (13.2, 6.5, 12.4, 12.2, 3.5), II 50.0 (14.1, 6.7, 13.0, 12.6, 3.6), III 40.2 (12.5, 5.5, 10.1, 8.6, 3.5), IV 49.1 (11.9, 5.3, 9.8, 8.6, 3.5). Leg formula 2413.</p><p>Remarks.</p><p>We found intraspecific variation in the shape of the posterior lateral lobes in the epigyne of the present female and the holotype illustrated by Jäger and Kunz (2005: fig. 103): the posterior humps of the lateral lobes in the holotype are much longer and more defined than those in our specimen (Figs 3 E, 4 A).</p><p>We propose the English name “ Malagasy lion spider ” for the species, which refers to its Latin name and appearance.</p><p>Distribution.</p><p>The range of this species appears to be restricted to the remnants of the rainforest in eastern Madagascar (Fig. 6, Suppl. material 1). Most records come from the north-east (Alaotra-Mangoro), central east (environs of Andasibe, Moramanga, and Mantadia National Park) and more to the south, in the district of Fiaranantsoa (e. g. Ranomafana National Park).</p><p>Molecular data.</p><p>The two sequences obtained from specimens originating from Ranomafana National Park were identical (Table 2). No other publicly available sequences are available in the repositories. We observed considerable similarity in COI sequences with those of other representatives of the genus Damastes (Table 2; Fig. 7).</p><p>The final alignment used for species delimitation comprised 658 nucleotide positions (nps) of COI gene sequences representing 11 specimens (Table 2). All nucleotide sequences were successfully translated into amino acid sequences without stop codons. Of the 658 nucleotide positions, 163 were variable, and the transition-to-transversion ratio (R) was 1.04.</p><p>The NJ analysis clustered the COI sequences of Damastes into maximally supported clades (Table 3; Fig. 7), grouping male and female specimens of Damastes leo comb. nov. together. Genetic divergence among COI OTUs ranged from 14.5 % to 17.25 %.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/440308266A38560AA4D0CCD7AE73BECD	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Uharov, Illia;Wiśniewski, Konrad;Trębicki, Łukasz;Jäger, Peter	Uharov, Illia, Wiśniewski, Konrad, Trębicki, Łukasz, Jäger, Peter (2026): Redescription of Damastes leo (Simon, 1903), comb. nov. (Araneae, Sparassidae) from Madagascar with first description of the male. ZooKeys 1282: 287-303, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1282.192182
