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

Here we review and assess the Mantodea diversity in studied area of Cameroon. The taxo- nomic list includes full collection data for all species and comments on selected taxa and is complemented by molecular data. Most importantly, we drastically expand the barcode data- base of African praying mantises and perform the phylogenetic analysis of the updated dataset. Materials and methods Material collection was conducted in May-August 2021 and January-March 2022, with few individuals collected sporadically in 2015 and 2018 in the village Ebogo II, South Cameroon, 3˚23’15.8"N 11˚27’59.8"E (see Fig 1). Ebogo II is located in the northern part of the Congo Basin at an elevation around 650 m asl, with a mean annual temperature of 24.3˚C. The land- scape is relatively flat, with homogeneous natural conditions, originally covered by tropical rain forest. The rainfall, of about 1700 mm on an annual basis, is distributed mostly in two rainy seasons between March and June, and between September and October, respectively. Several specimens of genus Sphodromantis were collected in July 2019 near Limbe´, South- West Region. Most specimens were collected using a light trap, consisted of a white sheet illuminated by UV mercury vapor lamp OSRAM HWL (MBFT) 160W during the night. In addition, manual collection efforts were organized in surrounding forest, and included visual examination of vegetation, tree climbing and net sweeping. Insects were fixed using ethyl acetate vapor jar and preserved in 80% ethanol or dried on cotton wraps.

Taxonomy follows the most recent revision of the order [33], while distribution records are given according to Ehrmann [30], Moulin et al. [23], Moulin [21] and Roy [24]. Identifications were carried out by first and second authors using dichotomous keys whenever available in Fig 1. Collecting sites in Cameroon, indicated by orange stars. For detailed coordinates see Taxonomic checklist in Results). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304163.g001 PLOS ONE Diversity of praying mantises in Cameroon PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304163 May 23, 2024 3 / 23