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Sacha inchi, Plukenetia volubilis L. (Euphorbiaceae: Malpighiales) is a nut native to South America and has economic importance, including food production, cosmetics, and medicinal purposes. To date, no data is available on the tritrophic interactions among P. volubilis, insects, and the microbe species, thus this will be the first data obtained worldwide. Interestingly, this study has highlighted the aphids, the pests of Sacha inchi, predator of aphids, and the microfungi infecting the predators. The data was collected from an organic farm, as a model sampling site in two fruiting seasons. In this study, aphids species (Aphididae: Hemiptera) that infesting the Sacha inchi tree, and their predators (ladybirds) (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera) have been discovered morphologically and molecularly. The species taxonomic status on both species’ groups (aphids and ladybirds) were confirmed using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), which successfully documented 12 species (9 genera, 3 subfamilies) of ladybirds that parasitizing nine aphids species (8 genera, 5 subfamilies). Furthermore, the ant species, Camponotus sp. (Formicinae: Hymenoptera) was identified morphologically and was observed to act as a natural enemy of Cryptogonus spp. (Coccinellidae). Besides that, the seed of the Sacha inchi was also recorded to be infested by an ant species, Crematogaster sp. (Myrmicinae: Hymenoptera). Moreover, a ladybird species, Coccinella transversalis was infected with microfungi, Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota: Fungi). Based on the findings, all the species distinctly separated and presented on the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) tree using the COI sequences, and the dominant coefficient analysis for all the species was calculated. Our results presented the first and novel data findings from Malaysia and worldwide on the interaction among the Sacha inchi, insects, and microbe. It is very important as preparation data for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by structuring the control management through green practices against the pest species, whenever the situation is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synchronous-flashing firefly, Pteroptyx tener Olivier, 1907 is a congregating firefly with high economic value for the ecotourism industry. However, the populations of P. tener are increasingly being threatened due to habitat destruction. The assessment of genetic variation within and among populations of the species from Malaysia might play a major role in conservation and management programs. Objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships among P. tener from five populations in Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (Sabah) using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), and to obtain its haplotype information. A total of 50 sequences of P. tener were used in the Neighbour-Joining (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP), and Bayesian Inference (BI) phylogenetic analyses and successfully formed several distinct clades of West and East Malaysia (East Coast and West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia) with moderately to highly supported bootstrap values and posterior probabilities. Several haplotype analysis parameters are presented; low nucleotide diversity (PiT, 0.01893), haplotype number (Hn, 19), and high haplotype diversity (Hd, 0.89469). Our findings assumed that the geographical isolation due to the inability for flying long distances without help by the wind and flooding in tidal rivers. The data presented here are important genetic information on the P. tener populations and are important for the conservation programme in Malaysia by conducting the breeding program among populations that have similar genetic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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