SOME MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF DISPLAY TREES OF FIREFLY PTEROPTYX MALACCAE (LAMPYRIDAE: LUCIOLINAE) IN THE WELU WETLAND MANGROVE FOREST, KHLUNG DISTRICT, CHANTHABURI PROVINCE

Abstract

Study on some morphological characters of display tree of firefly species Pteroptyx malaccae in the Welu Wetland Mangrove Forest, Khlung district, Chanthaburi province for investigate the characteristic aspects of firefly display trees was conducted between February 2019 and January 2020. The 10 surveys were started after sunset at a new moon night. The adult firefly was found in all surveying periods with a summation of 2,269 individuals. The most firefly abundance was recorded in January 2020 with 567 individuals, and the lowest abundance was recorded in May 2019 with 67 fireflies. Four species of host plants were recorded consist Acacia mangium Willd, Avicennia officinalis L., Melaleuca cajuputi Powell and Rhizophora apiculata Blume. The result showed that fireflies tended to perch to trees 8.44 meters in average height and the canopy radius were 2.98 meters in average with smaller leaves (3.98 centimeters of leaf blade width, 10.50 centimeters of leaf blade length, 359.54 micrometers of leaf blade thickness and 35.06 square centimeters of leave areas, averagely). The result also showed the significant difference of the characteristics of the host plants and the non-host plants (P<0.05) at the 0.05 level.