Logistic Regression to Predict Termite Occurrences with Environmental Variables in Primary Forest and Oil Palm Ecosystem: The Case Study in Sabah, Malaysia

AbstractThe aim of this research was to study the relationship between presence of termite and environmental variables in primary forest and adjacent oil palm plantation located in Sabah province, Malaysia. Termite sampling was conducted with manually dug and sorted soil pits (25cm × 25cm × 10cm) at a minimum extent of 64 m and lag of 2 m. Logistic regression technique was used to analyze the collected data. In general, termite species richness and relative abundances are lower in oil palm plantation in comparison with primary forest. The result showed that probability of termite occurrences in primary forest are mainly related to dead woods, trees and non-predatory ants. Likewise, probability of termite occurrences in oil palm plantation was affected with the appearance of dead woods, pruned stacked fronds, non- predatory ants and earthworms. This result indicated that pruned stacked fronds and dead woods play an important role of recovery of termite assemblages in oil palm plantation

Vector compositions change across forested to deforested ecotones in emerging areas of zoonotic malaria transmission in Malaysia

In lowland areas of Malaysia, Plasmodium knowlesi infection is associated with land use change and high proportions of the vector Anopheles balabacensis. We conducted a 15-month study in two Malaysian villages to determine the effect of habitat on vector populations in understudied high-altitude, high-incidence districts. Anopheles mosquitoes were sampled in human settlements, plantations and forest edges, and screened for Plasmodium species by PCR. We report the first An. donaldi positive for P. knowlesi. This potential vector was associated with habitat fragmentation measured as disturbed forest edge:area ratio, while An. balabacensis was not, indicating fragmented land use could favour An. donaldi. Anopheline species richness and diversity decreased from forest edge, to plantation, to human settlement. Greater numbers of An. balabacensis and An. donaldi were found in forest edges compared to human settlements, suggesting exposure to vectors and associated zoonoses may be greater for people entering this habitat

A protocol and training guidelines for mosquito sampling in remote areas with limited power supply

Mosquito-borne diseases pose a significant threat in many Southeast Asian countries, particularly through the sylvatic cycle, which has a wildlife reservoir in forests and rural areas. Studying the composition and diversity of vectors and pathogen transmission is especially challenging in forests and rural areas due to their remoteness, limited accessibility, lack of power, and underdeveloped infrastructure. This study is based on the WHO mosquito sampling protocol, modifies technical details to support mosquito collection in difficult-to-access and resource-limited areas. Specifically, we describe the procedure for using rechargeable lithium batteries and solar panels to power the mosquito traps, demonstrate a workflow for processing and storing the mosquitoes in a -20 °C freezer, data management tools including microclimate data, and quality assurance processes to ensure the validity and reliability of the results. A pre- and post-test was utilized to measure participant knowledge levels. Additional research is needed to validate this protocol for monitoring vector-borne diseases in hard-to-reach areas within other countries and settings

Thresholds for adding degraded tropical forest to the conservation estate

Logged and disturbed forests are often viewed as degraded and depauperate environments compared with primary forest. However, they are dynamic ecosystems1 that provide refugia for large amounts of biodiversity2,3, so we cannot afford to underestimate their conservation value4. Here we present empirically defined thresholds for categorizing the conservation value of logged forests, using one of the most comprehensive assessments of taxon responses to habitat degradation in any tropical forest environment. We analysed the impact of logging intensity on the individual occurrence patterns of 1,681 taxa belonging to 86 taxonomic orders and 126 functional groups in Sabah, Malaysia. Our results demonstrate the existence of two conservation-relevant thresholds. First, lightly logged forests (68%) of their biomass removed, and these are likely to require more expensive measures to recover their biodiversity value. Overall, our data confirm that primary forests are irreplaceable5, but they also reinforce the message that logged forests retain considerable conservation value that should not be overlooked

New records of Odonata from the Crocker Range National Park, Sabah, Malaysia

We report here the results from two field trips to collect Odonata in the Crocker Range National Park in western Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. Thirtysix species were collected. Telosticta fugispinosa had not been described at the time of collection, nor had the two Devadatta species. There was no published record of Protosticta species cf kinabaluensis before the 2012 expedition, nor of Drepanosticta species cf crenitis

Telosticta fugispinosa Dow, Afendy & Rahman, 2016, sp. nov.

Telosticta fugispinosa sp. nov. (Figs. 1–12) Telosticta undetermined D;— Dow & Orr (2012: 396, record of female, Poring Hot Springs, Sabah). Type material: Holotype: 1 ♂ (SAB 12 _PST 1, RMNH.INS. 507772), Malaysia, Sabah, West Coast Division, Crocker Range National Park, Inobong, Kimamabang waterfall stream system (below waterfall), 21 ix 2012, leg. R. A. Dow, in RMNH. Paratypes: All from Malaysia, Sabah, West Coast Division: 3 ♂ (SAB 12 _PST 49; SAB 12 _PST 72, RMNH.INS. 507677; SAB 12 _PST 77, RMNH.INS. 507668), Kinabalu National Park, Poring Hot Springs, small streams crossed by or near to trail to Langanan waterfall, above Kipungit stream, 11 ix 2012, leg. R.A. Dow; 1 ♂ (SAB 12 _PST 48), same location and collector, 12 ix 2012; 1 ♀, same area, trailside in forest, 21 iv 2005, leg. unknown, in RMNH; 10 ♂ (SAB 12 _PST 3, RMNH.INS. 507747; SAB 12 _PST 32–37; SAB 12 _PST 62, RMNH.INS. 597748; SAB 12 _PST 66, RMNH.INS. 507755), 1 ♀ (SAB 12 _PST 4; RMNH.INS. 507749), location as holotype, 18 ix 2012, leg. R.A. Dow; 4 ♂ (SAB 12 _PST 29 –31, 87), same location and collector, 19 ix 2012; 6 ♂ (SAB 126 _PST 6 –9, 26; SAB 12 _PST 61, RMNH.INS. 507770), 1 ♀ (SAB 12 _PST 27, in tandem with SAB 12 _PST 26), data as holotype; 3 ♂ (AA044, 49, 57; ODO 01378 - 80), same location, 22 ix 2012, leg. A. Afendy, in ITCB; 1 ♂ (SAB 12 _PST 84, RMNH.INS. 507766), same national park, Inobong, Batu Dinding stream system, 20 ix 2012, leg. R.A. Dow. Etymology. fugispinosa, an adjective suggesting a fleeting spine, in reference to the absent or vestigial spine on the paraprocts. Description of holotype male. Head: Labium pale. Basal 2 / 3 of labrum pale blue, black along free margin. Anteclypeus blue, postclypeus shining black. Mandible bases blue in corner by clypeus, black below. Vertex and frons bronzy black, occiput shining black. Ratio of width of compound eye to width of vertex measured at level of lateral ocelli slightly more than 9 / 10. Transverse occipital carina with lateral extremities angulated and prominent. Ocelli whitish. Antenna with scape and pedicel pale yellowish, brown at top of pedicel, remainder missing. Thorax: Prothorax whitish with blue tint to central parts anterior and middle pronotal lobes, except to rear of propleuron where there are irregular dark markings; small black central marking on anterior pronotal lobe, irregular black markings to rear of middle pronotal lobe; entire posterior lobe black, becoming grey apically on long lateral process (Fig. 3) with tip reaching level of lower margin of propleuron. Synthorax: Mesepisternum bronzy black, with pair of blue antehumeral stripes extending ca two-thirds of distance to wing bases (Fig. 5). Antealar triangles pale blue along mid-dorsal carina and in half at wing bases, rest black. Mesepimeron black. Metepisternum largely occupied by pale band, becoming blue towards wing bases, with short brown triangle based at antealar carina below, this extended as brownish band along metapleural suture to level of spiracle (Fig. 6). Metepimeron almost entirely pale. Venter of synthorax pale. Legs (only right anterior and right middle legs still present beyond trochanter, left posterior leg entirely missing, however all legs agreeing with the description below in paratypes): each with coxa and trochanter pale, femur and tibia pale except around joint and black stripe along extensor surface of femur. Tarsus pale with some darker areas, very dark brown at apex and brown claws. Wings: 13 (left) to 14 (right) Px in Fw, 12 (left) to 13 (right) Px in Hw. Vein ab absent. Arculus slightly distal to Ax 2. R 4 arising distal to subnodus, IR 3 joined to it by short stalk. Pterostigma trapezoidal with costal side slightly shorter than anal side, very dark brown with narrow white border, covering slightly more than one underlying cell. Abdomen: Largely dark brown and black. S 1 pale with narrow darker apical annulus. S 2 with yellowish cream basal annulus, divided dorsally, laterally this extending to posterior carina as pale wedge, otherwise dark brown. S 3–7 dark brown with narrow pale basal annulus, faint centrally dorsally. S 8 black with pale band along lower margin joined to large blue lateral dorsal marking, narrowly and irregularly divided dorsally (Fig. 7). S 9–10 black. Anal appendages (Figs. 10–12) largely black, with pale areas interior apically on cerci and scoop of paraprocts pale, also ventrally at interior base of paraprocts. Cerci ca 2.5 times length of S 10, interior projection well developed as spur at ca one-third length from base, directed first inwards then expanded slightly upwards and strongly downwards directed, spur clearly visible in dorsal (Fig. 10) and lateral (Fig. 11) view, with peg-like appearance in lateral view. Dorsal projection weakly developed, visible in dorsal view as small bump (Fig. 10). Cerci expanded dorsoventrally and interiorly shortly after half length, lower margin irregular, small subapical cleft (Fig. 11). Paraprocts just shorter than cerci, scoop spoon-like, turned inwards (Figs. 12), spine vestigial, not easily visible. Genital ligula of typical form for genus, with tongue-like structure of terminal segment long. Measurements (mm): abdomen without anal appendages 38.5, cercus just over 1, Hw 20.5. Description of paratype female (SAB 12 _PST 27). As male except as noted. Thorax: Posterior pronotal lobe with only short lateral processes (Fig. 4). Wings: 14 Px in Fw, 13 Px in Hw. Abdomen: S 3–5 with pale basal annulus not faded dorsally. S 6 with no basal annulus but small white basal dorsal mark present. S 7 with complete broad white basal annulus. Blue mark covering much of dorsum of 8 (Fig. 9). S 10 short. Cerci just shorter than S 10, approximately triangular. Ovipositor extending just beyond cerci, mostly black and dark brown with obscure pale markings. Measurements (mm): abdomen without appendages or ovipositor 33, Hw 21. Variation in paratypes. The black marks on the anterior pronotal lobe and the rear part of the middle pronotal lobes are variable in size, almost entirely absent in a few individuals and more extensive in others; occasionally the anterior lobe marking is joined to those on the rear of the posterior pronotal lobe via the central pit. The shape of the blue dorsal marking on S 8 of the male paratypes is variable, and the marking is frequently not divided centrally (e.g., Fig. 8); this is the case in all individuals from Poring. The spine of the paraprocts is entirely absent in some males. In males the only other significant variation is in size, with all individuals from Poring at the upper end of size range given below. In the two other female paratypes there is a basal pale annulus on S 6. Measurements (mm): Males: abdomen without anal appendages 36–46, Hw 19–24.5, 12–14 Px in Fw, 11–13 Px in Hw. Females: abdomen without anal appendages or ovipositor 34–37, Hw 21.5 –24, 13– 14 Px in Fw, 12–13 Px in Hw. Diagnosis. A small Telosticta with long blue antehumeral stripes. Males are easily distinguished from all other species of Telosticta by the form of the paraprocts, with the scoop turned sharply inwards and with a vestigial or no spine; the shape of the terminal half of the cerci is also distinctive, and dorsal blue markings on the terminal abdominal segments are confined to S 8. Remarks. Individuals of both sexes were found at moderate- to high-gradient forest streams from approximately 500–800m above sea level. In Fig. 6 there appears to be a small pale mark on the mesopleural suture near antealar carina of the holotype, this is actually an artefact in the image and does not really exist. The female reported as ‘ Telosticta undetermined D’ from Poring Hot Springs in Dow & Orr (2012: 396) and listed as a paratype here, along with the other female not collected in tandem with a male, are considered to belong to T. fugispinosa, as males were found in the same area and no other species of Telosticta has been found at Poring. However, in general the female may prove difficult to separate from those of other species of Telosticta with similar-length antehumeral markings; the female of the only other species known to occur in Sabah, T. janeus Dow & Orr, 2012, is not yet known. The known distributions of T. fugispinosa and T. janeus are allopatric, with the former known from Mount Kinabalu and the Crocker range and the latter from the south and east of Sabah, with published records from the Danum Valley and Imbak Canyon (Dow & Orr 2012: 394). The identity of ‘ Telosticta undetermined C’, reported from the Silau Silau stream near to the Kinabalu National Park headquarters (Dow & Orr 2012: 396; a large-sized teneral male) remains open, but it is likely to represent a third species of Telosticta from Sabah. Of the provisional species groups defined in Dow & Orr (2012), T. fugispinosa fits best into the feronia -group. Using the key in Dow & Orr (2012), exactly as in the case of T. iban Dow, 2014 (Dow 2014: 78), T. fugispinosa would key out as T. dayak Dow & Orr, 2012, or break the key, depending on how liberally couplet 7 was interpreted. The key could most easily be modified to accommodate T. fugispinosa by introducing a new couplet 6 distinguishing between species with the scoop of the paraproct sharply inturned, with vestigial spine (e.g., T. fugispinosa) from all others. No other species included in Telosticta has the spine on the paraprocts vestigial or absent.Published as part of Dow, Rory A., Afendy, Aqilah & Rahman, Homathevi, 2016, Telosticta fugispinosa sp. nov. from Sabah (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae), pp. 390-395 in Zootaxa 4103 (4) on pages 390-394, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4103.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/25577

Termite fauna of Sungai Kangkawat, Imbak Canyon Conservation Area (ICCA), Sabah

Termites are important inhabitants of the tropical rain forest, and they are commonly found in tropical soils. They have great importance in tropical terrestrial ecosystems especially in the decomposition process, mediate ecosystem processes and facilitate to improve the structure and quality of the soil. This study was conducted to identify the termite fauna of Sungai Kangkawat, Imbak Canyon Conservation Area (ICCA). Termites were collected using a standardized 100mx2m line transect at South Rim Trail and also through casual collection around the study site. A total of 31 termite species were recorded in this study. The termite assemblage comprises two families namely, Rhinotermitidae and Termitidae. Family Termitidae dominated the termite assemblage with 87.1% (27 species). The collected termite species in this study comprises 30% of recorded termite species of Sabah. Seven subfamilies that are commonly recorded in the tropical forest were identified in this study. Subfamily Termitinae and Nasutitermitinae from family Termitidae dominated the termite assemblage of Sungai Kangkawat with 12 species and ten species respectively. The previous study conducted at ICCA recorded 29 species which have 43.9% similarity with the current study. A total of 12 species were identified as new records for ICCA through this study. Hence, the total number of termite species of ICCA is 41. This study has provided the checklist of termite fauna in Sungai Kangkawat and updated the termite checklist of ICCA

Density-body mass relationships: Inconsistent intercontinental patterns among termite feeding-groups

Allometric relationships are useful for estimating and understanding resource distribution in assemblages with species of different masses. Damuth's law states that body mass scales with population density as M-0.75, where M is body mass and-0.75 is the slope. In this study we used Damuth's law (M-0.75) as a null hypothesis to examine the relationship between body mass and population density for termite feeding-groups in three different countries and regions (Cameroon, West Africa; Peru South America; and Malaysia SE Asia). We found that none of the feeding-groups had a relationship where M-0.75 while the data suggested that population density-body mass relationships for true soil-feeding termites in Cameroon (M2.7) and wood-feeding termites in Peru (M1.5) were significantly different from the expected values given by Damuth's law. The dominance of large-bodied true soil-feeding termites in Cameroon and the absence of fungus-growing termites from Peru suggest that these allometric patterns are due to heterogeneities in termite biogeographical evolution. Additionally, as these feeding-groups have higher population density than expected by their body masses it may be suggested that they also have a higher energy throughput than expected. The results presented here may be used to gain further understanding of resource distribution among termite feeding-groups across regions and an insight into the importance of evolutionary history and biogeography on allometric patterns. Further understanding of population density-body mass relationships in termite feeding-groups may also improve understanding of the role these feeding-groups play in ecosystem processes in different regions

Documenting Butterflies Diversity (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera: Nymphalidae) as Potential Nature Tourism Products at Sukau Rainforest Lodge and Sukau Ecotourism Research Centre, Kinabatangan, Sabah

Sukau Rainforest Lodge (SRL) and Sukau Ecotourism Research Centre (SERC) have been recognized as two ecotourism sites in Sabah. However, there were no butterfly tourism products carried out at both sites. As a result, a 5-day survey of butterfly diversity was conducted using fruit-baited traps. Butterfly diversity, richness, and abundance were evaluated using Shannon-Weiner Diversity for both sites. SWOT analysis was also carried out at both sites throughout a 3-week observation. The results showed there were 20 species from 6 subfamilies of Nymphalidae butterflies. A total of 96 individuals of each species were also tabulated, with SRL revealing a higher diversity index compared to SERC due to its large surrounding area. The butterfly specimens were collected for educational purposes as nature tourism products. Lack of research, no butterfly signage, forest fragmentation, and mass tourism activities were identified as weaknesses and threats with their strengths and opportunities as proper guidelines based on SWOT analysis. Hence, it shows that both sites are valuable for nature tourism based on their unique butterfly fauna as butterfly tourism products. This study could also provide baseline data on butterfly diversity and its potential as butterfly tourism products at both sites. Butterfly diversity data and SWOT analysis are compulsory for the creation of butterfly tourism products. Such valuable fauna can be integrated as nature tourism products in conjunction with appropriate decision-making strategies