Contributions of citizen scientists to monitoring alien species: the case study on Giant Asian Mantes, Hierodula tenuidentata and H. patellifera (Mantodea: Mantidae)

Many alien species directly affect humans by damaging agricultural crops and threatening the health of humans and domestic animals. Today, with the widespread use of social media, posts made by citizen scientists provide valuable data about alien species very quickly. This study reveals the importance of online databases for our knowledge on the spread of the Giant Asian Mantes Hierodula tenuidentata and H. patellifera. The data provided by citizen scientists through social media such as iNaturalist, Observation.org, and Alciphron (the latter only for Serbia) provide comprehensive baseline data for monitoring the distribution of these alien species. While 16% of the records of these species were obtained from the literature, 84% consisted of data from social media and personal observations. Our study supports the findings of previous studies stating that citizen scientists make important contributions in monitoring alien species and providing data for early prevention.