Insect species composition in an under SRI management in Tanjung Karang, Selangor, Malaysia

The composition of the insect species during the mature stage of organic paddy fields in Tanjung Karang, Selangor, Malaysia, were investigated. All specimens were collected via three sampling methods namely sweep net, handpick and stem cut. The specimens collected were identified to the family level and when possible, to the species level. A total of 404 individuals were successfully identified from 19 families, viz. Cerambycidae, Coccinellidae (Micraspis discolor (Fabricius, 1798)). Anthomyiidae, Calliphoridae, Phoridae (Megaselia sp.), Platypezidae, Platystomatidae, Sciomyzidae, Sepsidae, Alydidae (Leptocorisa chinensis Dallas, 1852), Pentatomatidae (Scotinophara coarctata (Fabricius, 1798)), Delphacidae (Nilaparvata lugens (Stal, 1854)), Apoidae, Braconidae (Bracon hebetor Say, 1836) Ichneumonidae (Temelucha philippinensis Ashmead, 1904, Xanthopimpla sp.), Sphecidae, Trigonalidae, Pyralidae (Chilo polychrysa (Meyrick, 1932)) and Tettigoniidae. Additionally, two larval stages were identified molecularly based on COI sequences and resulted in 98% identical similarity to Chilo polychrysa using BOLD and BLAST analyses. Maximum parsimony (MP) analysis also clustered Chilo polychrysa in a monophyletic clade and was supported by a 99% bootstrap value. The abundance and composition of the dominant species collected are discussed. This is a fundamental study that investigated the diversity of insect species for future reference in insect pest management, especially in organic paddy fields

Genetic evidence for the recognition of two allopatric species of Asian bronze featherback Notopterus (Teleostei, Osteoglossomorpha, Notopteridae)

The fish genus Notopterus Lacepède, 1800 (Notopteridae) currently includes only one species, the Asian bronze featherback Notopterus notopterus (Pallas, 1769). This common freshwater species is widely distributed in the Oriental region, from the Indus basin in the west, the Mekong basin in the east and Java Island in the south. To examine the phylogeographic structure of N. notopterus across its range, we analysed 74 publicly available cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences, 72 of them determined from known-origin specimens, along with four newly-determined sequences from Peninsular Malaysian specimens. We found that N. notopterus is a complex of two allopatric species that diverge from each other by 7.5% mean p-distance. The first species is endemic to South Asia (from Indus basin to Ganga-Brahmaputra system), whereas the distribution of the second species is restricted to Southeast Asia. The exact limit between the distributions of these two species is not known, but it should fall somewhere between the Ganga-Brahmaputra and Salween basins, a region already identified as a major faunal boundary in the Oriental region. The name N. notopterus is retained for the Southeast Asian species, while the name Notopterus synurus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) should be applied to the South Asian species. A comparative morphological study is needed to reveal the degree of morphological differentiation between the two species

Low morphological and genetic variation within the glass-perchlet Parambassis siamensis (Teleostei: Ambassidae) in Peninsular Malaysia

Ghazali, Siti Zafirah, Lavoué, Sébastien, Zain, Khaironizam Md., Jamaluddin, Jamsari Amirul Firdaus, Ahmad, Amirrudin, Ratmuangkhwang, Sahat, Nor, Siti Azizah Mohd (2022): Low morphological and genetic variation within the glass-perchlet Parambassis siamensis (Teleostei: Ambassidae) in Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa 5128 (4): 486-502, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5128.4.