MANGF: a reference library of DNA barcodes for Mantodea from French Guiana (Insecta, Dictyoptera)

Mantodea plays a special role in the food chain as a group charismatic generalist predators. They regulate invertebrate populations while themselves being prey for many larger animals such as reptiles and birds. The present study focuses on Fench Guiana where about 78 species are known within eight families. This diversity represents a challenge for specimen identification.

The MANGF project aims at developing a DNA metabarcoding approach to facilitate and enhance the monitoring of mantises as indicators in ecological studies. As a first step towards that goal, we assembled a library of DNA barcodes using the standard genetic marker for animals, i.e. a portion of the COI mitochondrial gene. In the present contribution, we release a library including 425 records representing 68 species in eight different families. Species were identified by expert taxonomists and each record is linked to a voucher specimen to enable future morphological examination. We also highlight and briefly discuss cases of low interspecific divergences, as well as cases of high intraspecific divergences that might represent cases of overlooked or cryptic diversity.