Survey and morphological identification of termites (Insecta: Isoptera) in Teaching Forest of Hasanuddin University, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to observe and identify of Coptotermes species based on morphological characteristics. Termites survey was conducted on Teaching Forest of Hasanuddin University, South Sulawesi area Indonesia with the elevation range 406-628 meter asl; specimens collected used the standardized transect sampling protocols at four different landscapes (natural forest, Swietenia mahagony plantation, Acacia mangium plantation, and Pinus merkusii forest Observation, and measurement of nine morphological characters of soldier was conducted, i.e: head length without mandibles, head width at the base of mandibles, maximum width of head, left mandible length, number of antennal segments, pronotum length, maximum width of pronotum, postmentum length, and maximum width of postmentum; also three indices were calculated, i.e., bHW/mHW, MHW/HL, LML/HL. The results showed that there are nine species found based on the morphological characteristics and morphometrical data, namely: Odontotermes sp.1, Odontotermes sp. 2, Odontotermes sp.3, Coptotermes curvignathus, Nasutitermes sp., Schedorhinotermes sp. Microcerotermes serrula, Bulbitermes sp., dan Havilanditermes sp.