MADAMAGAZINE Your Magazine about Madagascar
It will surely frighten you when you discover it for the first time: Damastes leo, one of the few large spiders in Madagascar. Eight long legs, a thick, clumsy body, bright red hair on a black ground. Although it looks like a tarantula, it is not even related to them. The Malagasy lion spider, as it is called since 2026, belongs to a family of spiders that are known as huntsman.
To reassure all travellers who are more at war with spiders, it should be said beforehand that they are very, very seldom seen. Actually, very little is known about this monster, which is as big as the palm of your hand. It lives in the rain forests of the east coast and the highlands and can be found in Masoala, Marojejy, Andasibe-Mantadia, Anjozorobe-Angavo and Ranomfana.
Damastes leo lives mainly on trees and is nocturnal. It does not build a web like other spiders, but lurks on the undersides of leaves sitting on passing insects, which it then takes by surprise and eats directly. During the day it rests under leaves or hides under tree bark. Whoever encounters it at night should be prepared for resistance. The Malagasy lion spider is not only very agile, but also reacts relatively aggressively to threats. Usually, however, their gigantic biting tools (the so-called chelicerae) are already sufficient to deter the attacker. Although Damastes leo is not a tarantula, she also shows a defense tactic, which you actually know from them. If someone gets too close to the spider, it lifts up its backside (called ophistosoma in spiders) and sprays the attacker with excrement. The surprise effect of the attack is then used to flee.
The black male of the Malagasy lion spider has only recently described by scientists in 2026. What the egg bags of Damastes leo look like is in contrast still not yet known, and spiderlings have not yet been photographed. The large, hairy spider is therefore not only an endemic of Madagascar, but also largely mysterious and unknown.
