A first look at the biodiversity of praying mantids (Insecta: Mantodea) in Sabah, Borneo.

Light trapping was conducted in February and March 2003 near Kinabalu National Park and in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. During 18 sample nights a total of 106 praying mantids, comprising 28 species, were collected in three different habitat types: a heavily disturbed farmland site, a selectively logged forest and an undisturbed canopy site in a primary dipterocarp forest. Species richness, within-habitat diversity (expressed as Fisher’s α) and estimated ”true“ species richness were highest on the farmland site, followed by the primary forest site and the secondary forest site. The between-habitat diversity indices Jaccard and NESS indicate the highest similarity of the species community between the farmland site and the primary forest site. Similar microclimatic conditions in the open farmland and the upper canopy might be responsible for this effect. The high biodiversity of generalist predators such as mantids on the farmland site could be explained by large abundances of potential prey species that profit from anthropogenic disturbances, such as orthopterans and moths. The value of light trapping as an effective means to assess the biodiversity of praying mantids is discussed.