Analysis of Diversity and Relationships of Grasshoppers Based on Morphological Characters in Palangkaraya City, Central Kalimantan.

Abstract

Grasshoppers are one of the most common herbivorous insects found in tropical areas, including the city of Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan. The purpose of this study was to analyze the diversity and relationship of grasshoppers in Palangka Raya City based on morphological characters. Diversity analysis was determined by the Shannon Wiener diversity index formula (H'). Determination of relationship was calculated by scoring the morphological characters. The scoring results were then analyzed using MVSP software to construct the dendogram. The results of morphological identification showed that there were six species of grasshoppers, namely Oxya serville, Valanga nigricornis, Dissosteira carolina, Atractomorpha crenulata, Phlaeoba infumata and Hierodula vitrea. The diversity index of the six species is H'=1.5 which is in the medium category. The results of the dendogram construction show that there are two main clades consisting of clade I containing grasshoppers of the Order Orthoptera, namely Oxya servile, Valanga nigricornis, Atractomorpha crenulata, Dissosteira carolina, Phlaeoba infumata and clade II containing Hierodula vitrea of the order Mantodea. Clade I is divided into two subclades consisting of subclade I containing Oxya servile and Atractomorpha crenulata and subclade II containing Valanga nigricornis, Dissosteira carolina, and Phlaeoba infumata. Based on the comparative morphological analysis, the distinguishing characters are the shape of the head, wings, thorax and leg. According to these results, it can be concluded that Palangka Raya City has a medium category grasshopper diversity index and the results of the relationship analysis show that the praying mantis (Hierodula vitrea) has the most distant relationship compared to the five other grasshopper species.