Project on Mantodea of Congo basin

Research Project: Study of Mantodea Congo Basin: The mantises of two tropical area in Central African Republic .

(Nota bene: This project was submitted to the Société Entomologique de France (French entomological entity) to obtain a fellowship in entomology within the framework fellowships Germaine Cousin.
The grant was accepted for the years 2012 – 2013 and 2014 – 2015. I was awarded on 12/12/2012 in the presence of R. ROY and again on 10/12/2014 .

More details on this project:

In 2005 (OTTE & SPEARMAN, Mantida Species File), the group of Mantodea (Dictyoptera: Mantodea) had approximately 2452 valid species (dispatched in 446 genus). Knowledge on these insects is in constant progress. Thus, since this assessment, a revision of the Toxoderini tribe  conducted by R. ROY has enabled to add nine species in the list.  Mantodea are present in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. They occur in all types of habitats from the Sahara desert down to the rainforests and  from sea level to high altitude. The great majority of new species remaining to be discovered inhabits the inter-tropical forest environments. In addition, these insects are mainly cryptic and solitary. Thus, intensive field work on this domain has not been carried out until now.

In Africa, only prospections of R. ROY, in the years 1960 to 1980, brought global inventories on Mantodea in several African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana …) and those of A. KALTENBACH in 1996 and 1998, brought inventories from South Africa. According to these researches, the number of African Mantodea is estimated to be over 1000 species.

 

The aim of this project is to study the diversity of Mantodea in the various layers of vegetation (herbaceous, shrub, tree, forest canopy) of a part of the territory of the Tri-National Sangha on the side of Central African Republic (CAR) (2 ° 25′-2 ° 35′N, 16 ° 05′-16 ° 15′E, between 0 and 400m altitude) This area encompass the dense forest special reserve Dzanga-Sangha National Park and Dzanga-Ndoki in La-Maboke Boukoko region. The explorated area is located in the heart of a dense forest, the second largest tropical forest after the Amazon. Thus, updating the knowledge on Mantodea living in the rainforests of the Congo Basin through bibliographical analysis is a significant part of the scientific project. The countries concerned are southern Cameroon, southern tip of CAR, a large part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), northern Congo and almost all of Gabon.  Currently, only CAR was subject to field surveys between 2010 and 2012.

This study is integrated into the framework of the scientific expedition SANGHA 2012 coordinated by P. ANNOYER, M. LOUBES and S. DANFLOUS which will provide a general inventory of the fauna : (entomological arachnological, ornithological, etc) and botany of this African region. Field missions took place in November 2010 and January-March 2012.

Currently, a working basis has already been carried out with the identification of nearly 250 specimens from various Mantodea field missions  of Ph. ANNOYER and his team in the southwest of Bayanga in CAR during 2005 and 2008 . There are nearly 35 species which have been identified between 2009 and early 2010 (23 species in 2005 and 29 in 2008, 17 are common to both years). Samples collected in 2010 are being studied whereas analyses of samples from the 2012 field mission have not been carried out yet.
Bibliographic searches on mantodea of CAR showed that the area had been few prospected: only 23 species (including 7 common species with recent surveys from Ph. ANNOYER) are cited in the publication of CAR reference R. EHRMANN published in 2002. However, many specimens have been collected in the area research station of La-Maboke Boukoko in 60-70 years. The list of species is not official so far.

Several sampling techniques were used: hunting at sight, threshing,  mowing with entomological nets.  tree climbing  using ropes and specialized equipment, special trapping including an  autonomous UV (Remote Canopy trap) and last, night hunting with high power light.
Collection points were determined according to the organization of the expedition SANGHA 2012 and the location of different frequented habitats .

(For more see échantillonnage)

Material collected will be identified by using  my personal collection and the reference collection of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris: one of the largest collections of Mantodea  and particularly concerning African species . If some « new to science » species have been identified,  types will be handed down to MNHN.

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