Diversity of cockroach (Order: Blattodea) at Hutan Lipur Bukit Bakar, Machang, Kelantan

Hutan Lipur, Bukit Bakar is conserved under Kelantan Forestry Department since 1975 and was opened as a recreational area for local people in Machang Kelantan with some facilities like playground, public toilet and resting hut. A study of forest cockroach was conducted at Hutan Lipur Bukit Bakar located in Machang, Kelantan from July to August 2018 with the objective to determine the diversity of forest cockroach in that study area. The method applied in cockroach sampling was light trap, baited trap, pitfall trap, and manual collection. Faunal sampling was conducted for 21 days in Hutan Lipur Bukit Bakar. A total of 60 individual of cockroach consists of 12 species belonging to three families which are Blaberidae, Blattelidae and Blattidae. Families Blaberidae (seven species), Blattellidae (three species) and lastly Blattidae (two species) were identified in this study. The most dominant families with the highest species recorded are Blaberidae. The overall Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H’) values for 21 days of sampling are 2.13 that indicate, this value had achieved stable environment condition while H’max is 2.48, Pielou’s Evenness Index is 0.86 and Margalef Index is 85.84. The value of H’, J and Dmg indices show that Hutan Lipur Bukit Bakar has a moderately large diversity of cockroach species with uniform distribution. Cockroach plays a crucial role as leaf decomposers in this study area. Further studies regarding the diversity of cockroach in Malaysia should be studied extensively.