Fewer pests and more ecosystem service‐providing arthropods in shady African cocoa farms: Insights from a data integration study

Agricultural intensification is leading to conversion of cocoa agroforestry towards monocultures across the tropics. In the context of cocoa agriculture, arthropods provide a range of ecosystem services and dis‐services. Arthropod pests (e.g., mirids and mealybugs) can cause major damage to crops, whilst pollinators and natural enemies (e.g., predatory insects and parasitoids) have the potential to enhance agricultural yields. Understanding how intensification of cocoa farming affects different arthropod groups is therefore important in maximising the abundance of beneficial arthropod taxa and reducing pest burdens. However, little is known about the influences of agricultural intensification on tropical arthropod communities, especially in Africa, where ~70% of the world's cocoa is produced. Most research on arthropod communities considers data from different sampling methods separately, as proxies of abundance; whilst these proxies can be informative, estimating true abundance enables direct comparison between arthropod taxa, and therefore the study of community dynamics. Here, we develop a Bayesian hierarchical model that integrates data from three common arthropod survey techniques to estimate population size of arthropod orders and to investigate how arthropod community composition responds to farm shade cover (an indicator of management intensity). Our results show that eight of 11 arthropod taxa responded to farm shade cover; importantly, brown capsids (the primary pest of cocoa in Africa), Coleoptera pests and Hemiptera pests decreased with increasing farm shade cover, whilst Araneae (natural enemies) and Diptera (potential pollinators) were more abundant in shady farms. Synthesis and applications. To achieve lower pest burdens and higher abundances of potential pollinators and natural enemies, African cocoa farms should maintain a dense canopy of shade trees. The current shift towards high‐intensity cocoa farming in Africa could result in long‐term losses due to pest infestations and loss of arthropod‐mediated ecosystem services

Urban wild meat and pangolin consumption across southern forested Cameroon: The limited influence of COVID‐19

Overexploitation of wildlife is pervasive in many tropical regions, and in addition to being a significant conservation and sustainability concern, it has received global attention given discussions over the origins of zoonotic disease outbreaks. Where unsustainable, consumption of wild meat by urban residents has been identified as a major socio‐environmental challenge, given it is a significant driver of wildlife declines. Yet, information on urban wild meat consumers and possible ways to target conservation interventions remains lacking. Using one of the largest datasets of urban wild meat consumers (1391) collected through structured questionnaires in 20 towns and cities, we model the demographic, psychographic and spatial factors associated with wild meat consumption patterns in southern Cameroon. We find that nearly half of the sampled consumers ate wild meat once per week or more, and find that the probability of being a frequent consumer was greater among men, those living in smaller towns, and those who do not consider there to be a link between eating wild meat and disease. Threatened pangolin species are highly preferred among urban consumers, and most consumers did not consider there to be a link between COVID‐19 and pangolins. Most respondents had eaten wild meat since the beginning of COVID‐19 and had not reduced their wild meat consumption due to COVID‐19. For the first time, we show that consumers with beliefs against a link between wild meat consumption and disease and those with greater income were less likely to have decreased their wild meat consumption. We identified stakeholders including teachers and religious/community leaders as potentially appropriate messengers for demand‐reduction campaigns, with television and radio being the most trusted communication channels among wild meat consumers. Crucially, our study advances current scientific understanding of the factors that influence wild meat consumption frequency and change due to COVID‐19 by urban consumers (particularly health beliefs and settlement size). We discuss how our results could be used to inform the design of wild meat demand‐reduction interventions to bring the consumption of wild meat towards sustainability in Cameroon, and our approach applied pan‐tropically. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog

Morphology, development, and reproduction of Eyprepocnemis plorans ibandana (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in South Cameroon rainforests

Eyprepocnemis plorans ibandana is a very common grasshopper species in open environments and agricultural systems of tropical Africa. It is a pest that significantly benefits from forest degradation in southern Cameroon, hence the need to study the bioecology of this subspecies. We studied the reproduction as well as the morphological characteristics and development times of the post-embryonic instars of E. p. ibandana. Sixty-one adult pairs were obtained from sixth instar nymphs caught in grassy vegetation in the Nkolbisson area (Yaoundé) and bred in the laboratory. After hatching, the first instar nymphs were individually placed in cages and fed every two days using fresh leaves of Manihot esculenta. The postembryonic development of E. p. ibandana took six instars in the male and six to seven instars in the female. Mean nymphal development took 79.16 ± 0.51 days in males, 89.93 ± 0.58 days in 6 instar females and 94.96 ± 1.22 days in 7 instar females. The survival rate of the first instar was low (53%). However, from the second instar on the survival rate was very high (> 87%). Sexual dimorphism is distinct in adults, fifth and sixth nymphal instars. Adults of E. p. ibandana took on average 32.57 ± 3.88 days to start mating, and mating lasted 2.12 h on average (1–3 h). Oviposition took place on average 52.03 ± 5 days after first mating; each female deposited one to eleven oothecae with an average of 34.93 ± 2.37 eggs per ootheca. Our study provides important information for the control of this subspecies in southern Cameroon

Review of the genus Macroscirtus Pictet, 1888 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) with the description of a new species

Simeu-Noutchom, Alain, Heller, Klaus-Gerhard, Affa'A, Glwadys Zang, Wandji, Alain Christel, Nzike, Marcelle Mbadjoun (2022): Review of the genus Macroscirtus Pictet, 1888 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) with the description of a new species. Zootaxa 5188 (2): 133-144, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5188.2.

Gryllotalpa weisei Simeu-Noutchom & Kekeunou sp. nov. and the first record of Gryllotalpa microptera (Chopard 1939) (Orthoptera, Gryllotalpidae) from Cameroon with redescription of the species

Simeu-Noutchom, Alain, Kekeunou, Sevilor, Wandji, Alain Christel, Nzike, Marcelle Mbad- Joun, Ngoute, Charly Oumarou, Messi, Nadege Brigitte Mbezele, Tamesse, Joseph Leb- El (2020): Gryllotalpa weisei Simeu-Noutchom & Kekeunou sp. nov. and the first record of Gryllotalpa microptera (Chopard 1939) (Orthoptera, Gryllotalpidae) from Cameroon with redescription of the species. Zootaxa 4763 (1): 61-72, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4763.1.

Description of two new species of the africana-group of the Genus Gryllotalpa, with a redescription of Gryllotalpa africana Beauvois (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae)

Three species of the africana-group of the Genus Gryllotalpa (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) were recorded from Cameroon during an investigation from March 2016 to March 2018: Gryllotalpa africana Beauvois from Buea and Tombel, and two new species, Gryllotalpa tombelensis Simeu-Noutchom and Kekeunou sp. nov. from Tombel and Gryllotalpa babetensis Simeu-Noutchom and Kekeunou sp. nov. from Babété. Gryllotalpa tombelensis is characterised by short wing morphology, vestigial hind wings, small phallic complex, short internal processes, and dorsoventrally flattened body. Gryllotalpa babetensis is distinct from other species of the africana-group by the mesoscutum being more exposed between the pronotum and the base of the fore wings, having a very large phallic complex, with very long internal processes of ectophallus (3 mm long). Both new species were collected in crop fields, but which differ in their habitatcharacteristics, such as soil moisture, pH and granulometry. A key and comments on the africana-group species of the genus Gryllotalpa and their habitat characteristics are also provided. The finding of the present study aims to help species identification and will help future taxonomists concerned with biodiversity of this group from Cameroon. Keywords: Cameroon, Mole Crickets, morphology, pitfal