Diversity, distribution and abundance of hymenopteran from different landscapes of Kuala Keniam National Park, Pahang, Malaysia

Abstract

Abstract A study on the diversity and distribution of Hymenoptera in Kuala Keniam National Park was conducted using Malaise traps. Three study sites were established namely the forest fringe, the mid forest and the inner forest. A total of 353 individuals were collected, belonging to 11 families and 46 morphospecies. The most abundant was found in the forest fringe with 177 individuals and the inner forest recorded the least with 71 individuals. Formicidae was the most abundant family with 176 individuals while Halictidae and Diapridae recorded the least with only two individuals. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’) showed that the middle forest had the highest value with H’=1.67 while the evenness index (E’) was the highest at the mid forest with E’= 0.53 and the Margalef richness index (R’) recorded the same value for the forest fringe and the middle forest with R’= 1.93. Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was a significant difference in the distribution of hymenopteran families among all the traps, with P<0.05 due to the changes of flowering plants’ density, precipitation and humidity. The findings will contribute to the existing knowledge of Hymenoptera diversity in Malaysia and aid in the conservation efforts of Kuala Keniam National Park.