First assessment of the biodiversity of praying mantises (Insecta: Mantodea) in Cameroon with DNA barcoding

Distribution. Cameroon, CAR, Gabon, Republic of the Congo. Family Miomantidae Westwood, 1889 Miomantis Saussure, 1870 Miomantis preussi Karsch, 1892 Type locality. Lake Barombi, Cameroon. Type deposition. Holotype 2♂ ZMHB. Material. 8♂, 15♀ (VGPC23436-9, VGPC23469-87): 4♀, 4♂ Mbalmayo Region, Ebogo II village, primary forest 3˚23’01.6"N 11˚27’50.7"E, 27.VII-1.VIII.2021, V. Govorov leg.; 8♀, 3♂ same data, but 2-10.VIII.2021; 3♀, 1♂ same data, but 11-22.VIII.2021. Distribution. Cameroon, CAR, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko Island), Gabon. Comments. Adult females were observed resting on the underside of plant leaves, guarding the ootheca. Family Nanomantidae Brunner de Wattenwyl, 1893 Hapalomantis Saussure, 1871 Hapalomantis (Bolbira) sp. Material. 1♂ (VGPC23811): Mbalmayo Region, Ebogo II village, light trap 3˚23’38.4"N 11˚ 28’15.6"E, 4.VIII.2021, V. Govorov leg. Comments. Comparing unique male collected in Ebogo II with other species in genus, it closely resembles Hapalomantis (Bolbira) minima (Werner, 1906), however, the latter species is distributed in Eastern and South Africa. Type specimen is reported by Ehrmann [30] to be deposited in the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart but could not be located there. More research is required for a precise identification of this specimen. Negromantis Giglio-Tos, 1915 Negromantis lutescens (Sjo¨stedt, 1900) Type locality. Kitta, Cameroon. Type deposition. Holotype ♂ NHRS. Material. 1♂ (VGPC23807): Mbalmayo Region, Ebogo II village, primary forest 3˚ 23’01.6"N 11˚27’50.7"E, 14.VIII.2021, V. Govorov leg.

Distribution. Cameroon, CAR. Comments. Our samples correspond well with species description, however, after building the phylogenetic tree, the sequence noticeably was placed in the same branch as Negromantis gracilis sequence from CAR (MAGAA205). Our suspicion is the specimen from CAR is misidentified. Negromantis sp. Material. 3♂, 10♀ (VGPC23344-50, VGPC23425, VGPC23491-2, VGPC23808-10): 4♀ Mbalmayo Region, Ebogo II village, primary forest 3˚23’01.6"N 11˚27’50.7"E, 2-10.VIII.2021, V. Govorov leg.; 5♀, 3♂ same data, but 11-22.VIII.2021; 1♀ same data, but 26.I-9.III.2022, J. Sˇobotnı´k leg. Comments. Collected specimens are closely allied with Negromantis modesta Giglio-Tos, 1915, but have 8 posteroventral spines on foretibiae. More research is required, including studying of the type material. On the obtained phylogenetic tree, the sequences from this taxon are nesting close together with Negromantis lutescens from CAR (MAGA252 and MAGA228), again pointing out possible misidentifications of the latter and urgent need of genus revision. Phylogenetic tree and pairwise distances Maximum likelihood tree was built using sequences from samples collected during our research and joined with available DNA barcodes from CAR, Cameroon and Gabon. The tree PLOS ONE Diversity of praying mantises in Cameroon PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304163 May 23, 2024 17 / 23