Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak

The termite genus of Coptotermes from the family of Rhinotermitidae is an invasive pest in suburban and urban areas and commonly known as metropolitan pest. Previous studies and data indicated that the genus lacks robust diagnostic characters for morphological species identification and causes many...

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Main Authors: Norsyarizan J., Wan Nurainie W. I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pusat Sistematik Serangga, Fakulti Sains dan Teknologi, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/1/16137-45751-1-PB.pdf
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author Norsyarizan J.,
Wan Nurainie W. I.,
author_facet Norsyarizan J.,
Wan Nurainie W. I.,
author_sort Norsyarizan J.,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The termite genus of Coptotermes from the family of Rhinotermitidae is an invasive pest in suburban and urban areas and commonly known as metropolitan pest. Previous studies and data indicated that the genus lacks robust diagnostic characters for morphological species identification and causes many named Coptotermes species remain unclear. This has resulted in additional junior synonyms which involves a few species of the most destructive pest of wood. The morphology variation between internest and intranest of soldier also complicates the species identification. The purpose of the study was to assess the morphological variation of Coptotermes particularly in soldier caste at species level. A total of 123 soldier’s individuals from four selected species of this genus were appropriately measured and recorded, in which 17 morphometric measurements were used. The data were later subjected to unweighted pair-group method average (UPGMA) cluster analysis using Minitab version 16.1.1. The cluster analysis shows that the genus Coptotermes examined is divided into two major clusters where each species was distinctly separated. The morphometric variation for respective species was observed and presented in this paper. From this study, it is suggested that cluster analysis is reliable to assist in species identification among Coptotermes.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:109702017-11-23T04:31:28Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/ Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak Norsyarizan J., Wan Nurainie W. I., The termite genus of Coptotermes from the family of Rhinotermitidae is an invasive pest in suburban and urban areas and commonly known as metropolitan pest. Previous studies and data indicated that the genus lacks robust diagnostic characters for morphological species identification and causes many named Coptotermes species remain unclear. This has resulted in additional junior synonyms which involves a few species of the most destructive pest of wood. The morphology variation between internest and intranest of soldier also complicates the species identification. The purpose of the study was to assess the morphological variation of Coptotermes particularly in soldier caste at species level. A total of 123 soldier’s individuals from four selected species of this genus were appropriately measured and recorded, in which 17 morphometric measurements were used. The data were later subjected to unweighted pair-group method average (UPGMA) cluster analysis using Minitab version 16.1.1. The cluster analysis shows that the genus Coptotermes examined is divided into two major clusters where each species was distinctly separated. The morphometric variation for respective species was observed and presented in this paper. From this study, it is suggested that cluster analysis is reliable to assist in species identification among Coptotermes. Pusat Sistematik Serangga, Fakulti Sains dan Teknologi, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/1/16137-45751-1-PB.pdf Norsyarizan J., and Wan Nurainie W. I., (2016) Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak. Serangga, 21 (1). pp. 1-38. ISSN 1394-5130 http://ejournal.ukm.my/serangga/issue/view/881/showToc
spellingShingle Norsyarizan J.,
Wan Nurainie W. I.,
Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak
title Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak
title_full Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak
title_fullStr Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak
title_full_unstemmed Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak
title_short Morphological variation of selected species of Coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in Western Sarawak
title_sort morphological variation of selected species of coptotermes (isoptera: rhinotermitidae) in western sarawak
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10970/1/16137-45751-1-PB.pdf