Termites have great importance in a tropical terrestrial ecosystem, especially in the decomposition process, mediate ecosystem processes and facilitate in improving the structure and quality of the soil. Termite survey was conducted at Gunung Telapak Buruk, Berembun Forest Reserve, Negeri Sembilan, during a scientific expedition from 30th March to 1st April 2019. This study aims to provide the first checklist of termite fauna in Gunung Telapak Buruk. Termites were collected using the casual collection method at selected trails around Gunung Telapak Buruk. A total of 21 termite species were recorded in this study. The termite assemblage comprises two families, namely Rhinotermitidae and Termitidae. Family Termitidae dominated the termite assemblage with 90.5% (19 species). The collected termite species in this study comprises 12% of recorded termite species of Peninsular Malaysia by Tho in 1992. The genus Odontotermes from the family Termitidae dominated the assemblage with five species. Four types of feeding groups were identified in this study. The wood feeders recorded highest number species with 66.7%, followed by soil feeders (14.3%), epiphyte feeder (9.52%), and wood-litter feeders (9.52%). All the recorded species are new record for this forest reserve as no previous record was available for this area.  Keywords: Diversity, forest, highland, mountain, termite fauna

Termites (order: Blattodea) are insects that playing huge role in organic decomposition, consuming dying wood materials and plants remains. They are commonly found in forest and rural area, where the rural area species are less documented in Malaysia, especially in Kelantan state. This preliminary survey had been done to identify the termite species and also determine the termite that act as a structural pest in the rural area of Kelantan. The aim of this study also to reveal the damages caused by the structrural pest termites in rural area of Kelantan. Termite samplings were conducted at Jeli, Pasir Mas, Tanah Merah, and Bachok areas. The methods used were a casual collection of termites using forceps and a survey regarding the pest conflict related to termites at selected houses. A total of seven species of temites were recorded at the rural area of Kelantan. The highest presence of termite species at the study area was Macrotermes gilvus (four locations), followed by Globitermes sulphureus (three locations). Among the species, M. gilvus, G. sulphureus and Odontotermes javanicus were identified as the species that attack the houses in rural areas of Kelantan. The attacks took place in both wooden and concrete houses. This study provides the details of termite species and termite pest that attack houses in the rural area of Kelantan. The information obtained from this study will be a reference for future research in rural area of Kelantan.

Termites are important inhabitants of the tropical rain forest, and they are commonly found in tropical soils. They have great importance in tropical terrestrial ecosystems especially in the decomposition process, mediate ecosystem processes and facilitate to improve the structure and quality of the soil. This study was conducted to identify the termite fauna of Sungai Kangkawat, Imbak Canyon Conservation Area (ICCA). Termites were collected using a standardized 100mx2m line transect at South Rim Trail and also through casual collection around the study site. A total of 31 termite species were recorded in this study. The termite assemblage comprises two families namely, Rhinotermitidae and Termitidae. Family Termitidae dominated the termite assemblage with 87.1% (27 species). The collected termite species in this study comprises 30% of recorded termite species of Sabah. Seven subfamilies that are commonly recorded in the tropical forest were identified in this study. Subfamily Termitinae and Nasutitermitinae from family Termitidae dominated the termite assemblage of Sungai Kangkawat with 12 species and ten species respectively. The previous study conducted at ICCA recorded 29 species which have 43.9% similarity with the current study. A total of 12 species were identified as new records for ICCA through this study. Hence, the total number of termite species of ICCA is 41. This study has provided the checklist of termite fauna in Sungai Kangkawat and updated the termite checklist of ICCA.