A Preliminary Study on the Beetle Fauna in Peat Swamp Forest of Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

Authors

  • ISAAC STIA MARCELLINUS Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
  • SITI NURLYDIA SAZALI Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • RATNAWATI HAZALI Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • FARAH NABILLAH ABU HASAN AIDIL FITRI Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • AHMAD IRFAN ABDUL RAZAK Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33736/bjrst.4655.2022

Keywords:

Beetles, biodiversity, Coleoptera, peat swamp forest, Sarawak

Abstract

The largest peatland in Malaysia is in Sarawak with approximately 1.66 million ha (13%) of total area, distributed widely in Sibu division followed by Sri Aman, Miri, Kota Samarahan, Sarikei and Bintulu. Despite being the most diverse animal species, the study of insects in peat swamp forest, particularly beetles, is still in the incipient stage. Therefore, this study aimed to provide recent information on the beetle species composition in a peat swamp forest of Real Living Lab, UNIMAS (RLL) located in Kota Samarahan. Beetles were sampled for five consecutive days and nights within a seven-day sampling trip in August 2020. Three sampling methods were employed in this study, namely handpicking method (HPM), modified Pennsylvanian light trap (MPLT) and pitfall trapping (PFT). A total of 15 families representing 37 species and morphospecies with 185 individuals were successfully collected. The most speciose family from the beetle assemblages in RLL is Scarabaeidae with eight species collected (21.62%), followed by Curculionidae with six species (16.22%) and Staphylinidae with five species (13.51%). The most abundant family was also represented by Scarabaeidae with 64 individuals (34.59%), followed by Scolytidae with 27 individuals (14.59%) and Carabidae with 23 individuals (12.43%), respectively. This suggests that these families are good candidates as biodiversity indicator of peat swamp forests. This study is still in its preliminary stage; hence it is important to conduct further beetle samplings in future to better understand the potential of beetle as a bioindicator in the peat swamp habitat as an effort to conserve and protect the habitat and the biodiversity that came along with it.

 

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Published

2022-12-31

How to Cite

ISAAC STIA MARCELLINUS, SITI NURLYDIA SAZALI, RATNAWATI HAZALI, FARAH NABILLAH ABU HASAN AIDIL FITRI, & AHMAD IRFAN ABDUL RAZAK. (2022). A Preliminary Study on the Beetle Fauna in Peat Swamp Forest of Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia. Borneo Journal of Resource Science and Technology, 12(2), 48–56. https://doi.org/10.33736/bjrst.4655.2022