Abstract:
The order Odonata, is one of the most well-known and well documented insects for its
adult stage, but the larval stage remain poorly known. This study was conducted three
states namely Terengganu, Johor and Pahang, aimed to investigate the diversity of
odonate (Order: Odonata) larvae and their microhabitat preferences. A rich collection
of 301 individuals belonging to 55 genus from 15 families of Odonata were
successfully recorded from twenty microhabitats selected, from August 2007 until
January 2008. Anisopterans (239 individuals) were found to be more abundant than
zygopterans (62 individuals), with Libellulidae (suborder Anisoptera) made up the
most dominant family collected with 49.2% of total individuals recorded. Zygonyx sp.
and Neurothemis sp. were found to be the most abundant species recorded in this
study. More individuals were collected from freshwater inland and peat swamp than
stream. Root of vegetation I (MH4) and riparian vegetation II (MH12) had showed the
highest diversity and species richness of odonates larvae compared to other
microhabitats. Kruskal-Wallis analysis showed that all microhabitats had significant
differences based on sites and the total number of individuals (K=0.041, P<0.05) as
well as between sites and the total number of families (K=0.025, P<0.05). By using
Spearman Correlation analysis, dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH are positively
correlated (r2=0.713, r2=0.653, P>0.05) with the number of individual collected while
water temperature was negatively correlated (r2=-0.575, P<0.05). The microhabitats
were also clustered according to their value of Sorensen's Coefficient of similarity
using Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic averages (UPGMA) method.
Rantau Abang estuarine (MH18) show no similarity to all microhabitats, while MH4
and MH8 show the highest similarity between them. This study findings show the
freshwater and peat swamps support richer diversity of odonates larvae and more
preferred microhabitat than riverine ecosystem.
