IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2014) 5-2

Research articleerd

A Preliminary Survey of Insect Pests at the Community
Forests of Khon Kaen Province, Thailand
DUANGRAT THONGPHAK*
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
E-mail: duathg@kku.ac.th

SIRIPORN KHONGTHAWIEFaculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Received 19 November 2013

Accepted 1 April 2014(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract A survey of insect pest from community forests including Kok Soke Hin (BanFang district) and Phu Wat (Mancha khiri district) community forests, Khon Kaen
province, were carried out from May to September 2013. Insect samples were collected bymanual collecting and light trap. Fifty eight species were identified representing 34
families relating to 9 insect orders. The diversity of insects in Kok Soke Hin community
forest consisted of Coleopterans (3.63%), Lepidopterans (3.63%), Hemipterans (0.52%),
Homopterans (3.63%), Orthopterans (0.36%) and Hymenopterans (3.63%). The diversityof insects in Phu Wat community forest consisted of seven orders of insect including
Orthopterans (29.49%), Coleopterans (24.36%), Lepidopterans (24.36%), Hemipterans(3.85%), Homopterans (16.67%), Dipterans (3.63%) and Hymenopterans (1.28%). Amongthe insects identified, insect pests were about 61.54 percent. The community forests of thisstudy are considered to have a low diverse and numerous insect fauna in the area. Order
Coleoptera was found abundant and dominant among other orders.
Keywords survey, insect pest, community forest

INTRODUCTION
The community forest area of Kok Soke Hin (Ban Fang district) and Phu Wat (Mancha khiri
district are lowland semi-deciduous forests as the community forest in the northeastern Thailand(Zhu T. et al., 2011) in a central agricultural production area in Khon Kaen Province. Kok SokeHin (Ban Fang district). Kok Soke Hin was declared as a community forest in 2005 and the forest
covered about 440 ha. The Phu Wat forest area covers about 560 ha, and it has been managed as acommunity forest since the 1970s. Over 1 million species of insects have been described, butcurrent estimates of total insect diversity vary from 5-80 million species of insects. Beetles(Coleoptera) make up 40% of described insect species. Five orders of insects stand out in theirlevels of species richness such as the Hymenopterans, Dipterans, Coleopterans, Lepidopterans, andHemipterans. In ecosystems, biodiversity is instrumentally important not only for the production offood, but for other ecological services, including the recycling of nutrients, regulation ofmicroclimate and local hydrological processes, suppression of undesirable organisms anddetoxification of noxious chemicals. However, some of them become pests in forest (Triplehornand Johnson, 2005). These areas have been chosen because of the less known diversity andabundance of insects in these forests. Therefore, identification of insects around the area will give
more insight on the species richness of insect diversity in forest ecosystems, the structure of their
populations, their interrelationships and interaction with their habitats. The objective of this study
was to determine the diversity and abundance of the insect fauna at the Kok Soke Hin and Phu Wat
community forests.

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METHODOLOGY
Insect specimens were collected around the community forests (Fig.1) including Kok Soke Hin(Ban Fang district) and Phu Wat (Mancha khiri district) community forests, Khon Kaen province.
Sampling was conducted during May to September 2013 in the wet season. Sampling methods
in this study were based on Triplehorn and Johnson (2005), Insect specimens were collected using
light trap and manual collecting. In each area, light trap were set up from 7.00 pm until 11.00 pm
and manual collecting were done for 3 h during the day time. All of the collected specimens werepreserved in 70% ethyl alcohol in the multipurpose containers, and were brought back to thelaboratory for pinning and identification. Identification of insects to order, family, genus andspecies was based on the keys by Triplehorn and Johnson (2005). However, the detailed
identification was based on comparison with specimens in the Insect Museum in the Entomologicalsection, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University and several taxonomic references. The
percentage of insect samples was used by combination two sampling methods.
The Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index (Krebs, 1999), was used to calculate the diversity ofinsect collected. The formula of the Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index used is presented below
𝑆𝐻′ =  𝑝𝑖 (ln 𝑝𝑖)

(1)

𝑖=1

Where H´ = Species diversity index, s = Number of species, pi = Proportion of the total
sample belonging to ith species.
The evenness index (Krebs, 1999) was calculated to determine the equal abundance of ants ineach study site as follows:
𝐸′ =𝐻′𝐻′𝑀𝐴𝑋′(2)

Where H´ = Observed index of species diversity, H´MAX’ = Maximum possible index ofdiversity.
The diversity values for Shannon-Weiner were classified based on scale developed byFernando (1998) and is presented in Table 1.

Fig. 1 Study area at the Kok Soke Hin (blue dot) and Phu Wat (red dot) community forest inKhon Kaen Province in Northeastern Thailand
Table 1 Classification of species richness indices (adopted from Fernando 1998)
Relative values
Very highHighModerateLow
Very lowSpecies diversity>3.50
3.00 – 3.49
2.50 – 2.99
2.00 – 2.49
<1.99

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Evenness>0.75
0.50 – 0.74
0.25 – 0.49
0.15 – 0.24
< 0.14

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2014) 5-2

Table 2 Classification of insects surveyed at the Kok Soke Hin (Ban Fang district) and Phu
Wat (Mancha Khiri district) community forests, Khon Kaen province
Order
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Coleoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
OrthopteraOrthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Homoptera
Homoptera
Odonata
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Isoptera
DipteraFamilyScarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
Hydrophilidae
Lucanidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
Cerambycidae
MeloidaeStaphylinidae
Passalidae
Cicindelidae
Curculionidae
Lampyridae
Tenebrionidae
Buprestidae
Gryllotalpidae
Gryllidae
Gryllidae
Gryllidae
Acrididae
Acrididae
MantidaeBlattellidae
Tetrigidae
Tettigoniidae
Tettigoniidae
Plasmatidae
Xylocopidae
Formicidae
Formicidae
Formicidae
Vespidae
Notonectidae
CydnidaePentaomidae
Pentaomidae
Coreidae
Cicadellidae
Cicadidae
CoccidaeLibellulidae
Noctuidae
Arctiidae
unknown
Chiromomus

Genus/species
Copris nevinsoni
Xylotrupes gideon
Amomala grandis
Anomala sp.
Catharsius molossus
Copris magicus
Gymnopleurus aethiops
Lepidiota stigma
Orcytes rhinoceros
Hydrous cavistanum
Aegus amplus
Batocera rufomaculata
Batocera rubus
Celosterna pollinosa sulphurea
Cyriopatus wallacei
Aristobia approximator
Plocaederus ruficornis
Xytrocera globosa
Xoanodera striata
Rhaphuma mutabilis
Dorysthenes granulosus
Dorysthenes buquetElectica castanea
Paederus sp.
Tiberioides sp.
Calochroa flavomaculata
Sepiomus sp.
Luciola brahmina Bourgeois
Tribolium sp.
Sternocera ruficornis
Gryllotalpa orientalis
Gryllus bimaculatus
Gryllus testaceus
Acheta domesticus
Cyrtacanthacris tatarica
Oxya japonicaTenodera sinensis
Pycnoscelus indicus
Paratettix sp.
Holochlora nigrotympana
Conocephalus longipennis
unknown
Xylocopa sp.
Pheidole sp.
Solenopsis saevissima wagneri
Camponotus sp.
Vespa sp.
Anisops sp.
Stibaropus molginus
Nezara viridula
Tessaratoma papillosa
Anoplocnemis plasiana
Nephotettix sp.
Meimuna opalifera
Pseudococcus sp.
Crocothemis servilia (Drury)
unknown
Creatonotos sp.
unknown
Chiromomus sp.

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RESULT AND DISCUSSION
In this study, fifty-eight insect species were identified as shown in Table 2. A total of 914
individuals of insects from nine orders and thirty-four different families were collected. They arefrom the orders of Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Homoptera Hymenoptera, Diptera, Isoptera,
Lepidoptera, Odonata, and Diptera (Table 3). The order Hymenoptera had nine species of fivedifferent families. The Coleopterans had thirty species of eleven families, while the order
Orthoptera had eleven species of nine families. The order Hemiptera had six species of fourfamilies, while the order Hymenoptera had five species identified in three families. The orders
Homoptera and Lepidoptera had two species belonging to two families. The specimens from theorder Isoptera were not identified. The family Cerambycidae had the highest number of 11 insect
species followed by the family Scarabaeidae (9 spp.). The results showed that Coleoptera (39.39%)
had the most dominant insects in both forest communities, followed by Hemiptera (29.54%),
Orthoptera (11.38%) Hymenoptera (7.98%) and Isoptera (5.69%), the following insect orders got
lower than 2% (Table 3), Isoptera, Odonata and Diptera. The generally low species diversity
observed is due to the very few species recorded in the present study.
Table 3 Taxonomic distribution of insects at the Kok Soke Hin (Ban Fang district) and
Phu Wat (Mancha Khiri district) community forests, Khon Kaen province
Order
Orthoptera
Coleoptera
Hemiptera
HomopteraHymenoptera
Lepidoptera
Isoptera
Odonata
DipteraPopulation
104360
270
273
4152
2
10914

Taxonomic distribution
No. of families
No. of species
9111130462235221*11113458

Percentage of order
11.38
39.39
29.54
0.22
7.98
4.48
5.69
0.21
1.09
100

*unidentified

Among the insects identified, forty- eight species of insects in 13 families and eight orders
were found as insect in the community forests. The highest number of species was recorded in theKok Soke Hin community forest (27 species) and the Phu Wat community forest found only
fourteen species of insect pest (Table 4).
Table 4 Percentage of insect pest at the Kok Soke Hin (Ban Fang district) andPhu Wat (Mancha khiri district) community forests, Khon Kaen province
InsectPestOrderFamilySpecies

Number of insect pest
KSHPW
538527
14

Total
81341

Percentage of insect pest (%)
KSH
PW
38.46
23.08
28.57
17.86
42.86
22.22

Total
61.54
46.43
65.08

Note: KSH= Kok Soke Hin community forest, PW = Phu Wat community forest.

The diversity of insect in this study is presented in Table 5. Overall, the results show that
insect diversity value for the community forest was very low with H´=1.55 while the specie
evenness values show that the community forest had the highest with E´=0.70. The diversity oforder Coleoptera is the higher than the others in this study with H´ = 0.37, this is because of scarabbeetles were commonly collected in the forest areas. Furthermore, majority of the timber trees werein the forest where the greatest number of cerambycid occurred. The survey revealed that, theinsect species include insect pests, insect pollinators, saprophytic insects, parasitoids, andpredators. Not many of the insect species identified are major pest to the forest pest in the area
except scarab and cerambycid beetles that is a major pest. This implies that the trees in the forestⒸ ISERD

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area could be conducted with less insect pest problem in the areas. However, lower diversity instudy areas were influenced by the condition during the time of study. This is because samplings
were conducted during raining season. Wardle and Barker (1997) indicate that rainfall leads todirect death to larvae and egg and causes the development of insect to shift. Furthermore, insects
will seek protection by reducing foraging activity and finding shelter during this wet duration.
Table 5 Diversity index and Evenness index of the insect community at the Kok Soke Hin(Ban Fang district) and Phu Wat (Mancha Khiri district) community forests
Order
Orthoptera
Coleoptera
Hemiptera
HomopteraHymenoptera
Lepidoptera
Isoptera
Odonata
Diptera
Total

Diversity index (H´)
0.25
0.37
0.36
0.01
0.20
0.14
0.16
0.01
0.05
1.55

Evenness index (E´)
0.11
0.17
0.16
0.01
0.09
0.06
0.07
0.01
0.02
0.71

CONCLUSION
From this study, the community forests of Khon Kaen province including Kok Soke Hin and Phu
Wat are considered to have a low diverse and numerous insect fauna in the area. Order Coleoptera
was found abundant and dominant among other orders. However, the results which were being
presented in this paper might be the first comprehensive list of insects in the community forest. It istherefore recommended that, similar survey should be conducted during dry season of the year tohave a list of insect occurring at every particular season of the year and the economic importance ofinsects surveyed should also be investigated.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis research was supported by the Khon Kaen University funding 2013. The authors thank to thePlant Genetics Conservation Project under The Royal Initiative of Her Royal Highness Princess
Maha Chakri Sirindhorn for permission of conducting the research.
REFERENCES
Fernando, E.S. 1998. Forest formations and flora of the Philippines: Handout in FBS 21. (Unpublished).
Krebs, C.J. 1999. Ecological methodology, Addison-Educationall Publishers, California, 581. USA.
Triplehorn, C.A. and Johnson, N.F. 2005. Borror and delong’s introduction to the study of insects. 7th ed.
Brooks/Cole. 864.
Wardle, D.A. and Barker, G.M. 1997. Competition and herbivory in establishing grassland communities:Implications for plant biomass, species diversity and soil microbial activity. Oikos, 80, 470-480.
Zhu, T., Chen, H., Ganesh, S., Roland C. and Kanokwan, H. 2011. Revisit to community forest in northeastof Thailand: changes in status and utilization. Environ. Dev. Sustain., 13, 385-402.

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