Diversity of mantids (Dictyoptera: Mantodea) of Sangha-Mbaere Region, Central African Republic, with some ecological data and DNA barcoding

This study aims at assessing mantid diversity and community structure in a part of the territory of the Sangha Tri-National UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Central African Republic (CAR), including the special forest reserve of Dzanga-Sangha, the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. The study area is located in the biome of the dense tropical rainforest of the Congo Basin, the second largest area of tropical forest behind the Amazon basin, and one of the last regions on earth where pristine forest ecosystems persist. Between 1984 and 2012, eight collecting campaigns were conducted by P. Annoyer, M. Loubes and S. Danflous, with the aim of documenting invertebrate diversity in this remote and poorly studied area. Mantids were collected in different habitats and microhabitats using four harvesting techniques: visual hunting (threshing, mowing), active search in the trees, autonomous UV collecting (Remote Canopy Trap) and classical light trapping with mercury light. Community patterns were assessed using rarefaction curves and diversity estimators (ACE). Specimens (n = 25) were also found at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) of Paris. Seventy-one species of Mantodea are recorded from Sangha-Mbaere Region in the CAR from 1232 specimens. This is the first synthesis published about Mantodea in CAR. Some new species are present in the genera Cataspilota, Galepsus and Chlidonoptera. Taxonomic revisions of these genera are in progress. Some genera need global revision like Plistospilota, Miomantis, Entella, and Galepsus. This type of work is the first on the mantids in Central Africa since the various inventories carried out in the sixties and seventies, which were mainly based on lists of species. The contribution of data on ecology and biogeography is a novelty.