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The synchronous-flashing firefly, Pteroptyx tener Olivier, 1907 is a congregating firefly with high economic value for the ecotourism industry. However, the populations of P. tener are increasingly being threatened due to habitat destruction. The assessment of genetic variation within and among populations of the species from Malaysia might play a major role in conservation and management programs. Objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships among P. tener from five populations in Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (Sabah) using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), and to obtain its haplotype information. A total of 50 sequences of P. tener were used in the Neighbour-Joining (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP), and Bayesian Inference (BI) phylogenetic analyses and successfully formed several distinct clades of West and East Malaysia (East Coast and West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia) with moderately to highly supported bootstrap values and posterior probabilities. Several haplotype analysis parameters are presented; low nucleotide diversity (PiT, 0.01893), haplotype number (Hn, 19), and high haplotype diversity (Hd, 0.89469). Our findings assumed that the geographical isolation due to the inability for flying long distances without help by the wind and flooding in tidal rivers. The data presented here are important genetic information on the P. tener populations and are important for the conservation programme in Malaysia by conducting the breeding program among populations that have similar genetic information.

Microbiome studies of the parasitoid wasp,Kajian mikrobiom ke atas spesies penyengat parasitoid

The sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis, is a secondary pest that damages rice products and other stored grains. Analysis based on the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences data, the number of haplotypes (Hap) (n), haplotype diversity (Hd), haplotype network, genetic distance, and phylogeny between O. surinamensis populations from four regions (small-scale), viz. the northern area (Seberang Perai), middle area (Klang), southern area (Pasir Gudang), and east coast (Kuantan) of Peninsular Malaysia, as model sampling locations, were obtained. A total of five haplotypes were detected in all the test populations, two shared (Haplotype 1 and Haplotype 3) and three unique haplotypes (Haplotype 2, Haplotype 4, and Haplotype 5) with haplotype diversity value, Hd = 0.6789 were recorded. Furthermore, the neighbour-joining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP), and Bayesian inference (BI) trees showed a mixture of individuals from all regions in Peninsular Malaysia (Haplotype 1 to Haplotype 4), except Haplotype 5, which was grouped with foreign populations that inherited similar haplotype with those of the European samples. This study assumed a mixture of populations presumably due to human activities and related explicitly to the exportation and importation of rice products across regions. This information is vital for strategising the control management of this pest species to reduce rice storage losses.

Sap beetles are commonly found in many agricultural systems worldwide. In Malaysia, sap beetles are less documented despite their abundance in oil palm plantations. The similarities in the morphology of the sap beetle makes the identification process difficult from the same genus. This study aims to determine of composition of the sap beetle species from the genus Carpophilus, to identify the species of sap beetles and to document the DNA barcode for those species collected from the oil palm plantation, which has never been done before. DNA of seven species of sap beetles within the subfamily Carpophilinae have been successfully amplified using cytochrome oxidase subunit I marker (COI) namely C. hemipterus (Linnaeus), C. maculatus Murray, C. mutilatus Erichson, C. marginellus Motschulsky, C. sp. 1, C. nepos Murray and C. obsoletus Erichson represented 21, 12, 33, 8, 9, 6 and 11%, respectively from the total number collected. The sequences were analysed and a tree was constructed based on Neighbor-Joining (NJ) analysis with Meligethes thalassophilus chosen as an outgroup. All of the samples showed 90–100% similarities in BOLD and BLAST analyses. NJ trees constructed show that each sap beetle species collected from the study site located at their specific lineages on the tree. Interestingly, the DNA barcoding described in this study is the first to document barcoding data of sap beetles genus Carpophilus in Malaysia and this can be a helpful tool in updating the taxonomic and molecular status of the sap beetles in Malaysia.

Parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera) play a significant role in reducing the pest population of the bagworm species Metisa plana. This study presents the abundance and DNA barcoding information of eight parasitoid wasps species, Dolichogenidea metesae (47%), Brachymeria carinata (19%), Buysmania oxymora (12%), Goryphus bunoh (7%), Pediobius anomalus (5%), Eupelmus cotoxanthae (2%), Apanteles aluella (5%), Apanteles sp.1 (3%) and that emerged from M. plana collected from three highly infested oil palm plantations in Selangor (west), Perak (north) and Johor (south) in Peninsular Malaysia. Samples of infested M. plana were collected from the field and reared in a rearing room. The parasitoid wasp species D. metesae recorded the highest emergence numbers and the broadest presence in all the sampling sites. The relationships among the parasitoids species were estimated and visualized using Neighbor Joining (NJ) phylogenetic analyses with the Ceraphronidae family as an outgroup. The resulting NJ tree showed that the identified parasitoid wasps were successfully classified into specific species and supported with bootstraps values between 55% to 100%. This study provides important information on potential biological control agents for M. plana that may be useful for the Malaysian oil palm industry.

Ladybugs (family: Coccinellidae) are well known for their role as biological control agents in ecosystems, however some types can be serious pests and cause damage to many important crops. The first ever DNA Barcode of eight ladybug species (Coccinellidae) namely Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata , Henosepilachna kaszabi , Micraspis discolor , Heteroneda reticulata , Chilocorus nigritus , Cheilomenes sexmaculata , Coelophora inaequalis and Coccinella transversalis from Malaysia successfully presented in this study. It has been collected in the field, known and act as biological control agents for serious pests that cause damage to several important crops. From this study, the interactions are refers to the ladybugs species as predator and its host plant family namely solanaceae, moraceae, malvaceae, convolvulaceae and rutaceae. The relationships among ladybugs species has been estimated and visualized using phylogenetic analyses of Neighbor Joining (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP), and Bayesian Inference (BI) with Cassidinae sp. as an outgroup. All resulted trees generated produced more or less similar with Coccinellinae (five genera) were found monophyletic (lowly supported, 0.57 posterior probability (pp)), while Chilochorinae were paraphyletic. However Scymninae (2 genera, 0.87 pp) and Epilachninae (1 genus, 1.00 pp) were also monophyletic. The information on the ladybugs species and its host plants is very important and crucial in managing strategy on the pest infestation, which requires details for food and host preferences in their tritrophic interaction.

Diversity of spider groups have received less research attention and there are limited published references for spiders from Peninsular Malaysia. The current survey was conducted to locate and identify foliage-dwelling spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) at five different sites in Peninsular Malaysia. Spider specimens were collected using manual search and sweep-netting between September 2012 and November 2012. A total of 92 morpho-species from 65 genera that belong to 15 families have been successfully recorded and identified. The greatest proportion of specimens captured (40%) were Foliage-runners (Clubionidae, Miturgidae, Oxyopidae, Pisauridae, Salticidae, Scytodidae, Thomisidae), followed by orb-weavers (Araniedae, Nephilidae, Tetragnathidae, Uloboridae) (36.5%), space-weavers (Pholcidae, Psechridae Theridiidae) (21.5%) and ground-dwellers (Sparassidae) (2.0%). Cluster analysis has revealed that the same habitat types share a more similar diversity composition compared to different habitat types, which indicates that spider assemblage composition was partly co-dependent on vegetation structure. However, no significant difference in spider assemblage composition was found between all the five sites which follows that these diurnal group of spiders are actually adaptable to various habitat types.

Leaf beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is one of the largest groups in Coleoptera. However, studies focusing on this group are considered low, especially in Malaysia. Apart of being pest for several crops and stored products, their ecological preferences are unknown. This study was conducted to observe the abiotic factors that may influence the distribution of the species. Sampling was done from December 2016 to May 2017 at Fraser’s Hill, and divided into three altitudes; higher (>900m a.s.l), middle (500-900m a.s.l) and lower (