Diets of two non-native praying mantids (Tenodera sinensis and Mantis religiosa) show consumption of arthropods across all ecological roles

Abstract

Introduced predators may affect native arthropod communities and alter the ecosystem services these native species provide. While mantids are known to have a broad diet in terms of consuming taxa from a number of different orders, we currently lack the high taxonomic resolution on the prey species consumed. Without knowing the identity and frequency of species in the diets of introduced mantids, it is difficult to estimate the ecological impacts of these species on local food webs and ecosystem services. To address these issues, we used DNA metabarcoding to identify prey in the diets of two introduced mantids (Tenodera sinensis and Mantis religiosa) in old fields. While both species fed on a broad diversity of taxa across 22 orders, T. sinensis mantids exhibited higher alpha diversity in diet items than M. religiosa mantids. Total beta diversity of mantid diets was moderate (0.39–0.485) across both species, although M. religiosa samples exhibited higher total beta diversity than T. sinensis samples. Herbivorous, predatory and pollinator prey species were the most important contributors to detected patterns of beta diversity. However, degree of diet overlap varied across sites and mantid species, where mantid diets at sites dominated by the same species of mantid were more similar than compared to mantid diets at sites dominated by a different mantid species.