The Distribution and Phenology of Pteroptyx fireflies (Coleoptera; Lampyridae) along Garama River, Sabah, Malaysia

An ecological study of fireflies of the genus Pteroptyx was conducted along the Garama River, Klias Peninsula from April to June 2004. Fourteen stands of relatively good display trees were selected from the riverine vegetation along Garama River, about 8.4 km long. Sampling was conducted using an areal net at each tree (station) for two minutes in two consecutive nights for every two weeks. Altogether there were six sampling occasions. We found four Pteroptyx fireflies, namely P. similis Ballantyne, P.tener Olivier, P malaccae Gorham and P. valida Olivier. Abundance of fireflies varied significantly from one station to another on each sampling occasion (Kruskal-Wallis %2= 69.180, d.f. = 13but did not differ between the six sampling occasions (Kruskal-Wallis x2= 1.607, d.f = 5, p 0.05). The cycle of the moon was found to have no significant influence on fireflies abundance (Mann-Whitney U = 3346.00, Z = -0.579, p 0.05). Males fireflies were significantly more abundant than females in the ratio of 60% / 40% (Mann-Whitney U = 12307.5, Z = -2.036, p 0.05) for the entire samples.