Morphometric Analysis of Soldier Caste of Genus Nasutitermes (Isoptera: Termitidae)

• Main Author: Nur Izzah, Mat Desa
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2017
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QR Microbiology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32018/1/Morphometric%20Analysis%20of%20Soldier%20Caste%20of%20Genus%20Nasutitermes%20%28Isoptera%2C%20Termitidae%29%28fulltext%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32018/2/Nur%20Izzah.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32018/

Termite under genus Nasutitermes under family Termitidae can be classified as the most plentiful woodfeeding termites while some species can be considered as major pest of agriculture. There are several studies of morphometric analysis for other species oftermites such as in the genus Odontotermes and Coptotermes but not Nasutitermes, especially in Sarawak. Nasutitermes morphological species identification are still understudied and lack of available keys of diagnostic features to differentiate between each species. The main purpose ofthis study is to analyse the morphological variation ofthe members under genus Nasutitermes based on soldier caste to the species level. In this study, a total of 107 individuals from soldier caste represented 6 species were used. All the collected individuals were measured using 12 morphometric measurements and recorded with four indices. The data obtained were presented using unweighted pair-group method average (UPGMA) cluster analysis using Minitab version 15.1.3, while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using SPSS Version 24.0. Cluster analysis from this study was suggested as reliable in assisting the identification for this respective genus.