Muhamad Fatihah Syafiq‡, Baizul Hafsham Badli-Sham‡, Mohamad Aqmal-Naser§, Muhammad Fahmi-Ahmad§, Syed Ahmad Fariduddin Bin Syed Abd Ghani§, Mohd Izham Mohd A Wahid§, Farah Hazirah Amir§, Gukaaneswaran Kaliyappan§, Nur Nadhirah Sapri§, Nurziattul Farhana Nordin§, Joehan Azzimin§, Muhammad Shahril-Ridhwan§, Tng Kei Li§, Ng Shu Xin§, Syed Ahmad Rizal§, Amirrudin Ahmad‡‡Corresponding author: Amirrudin Ahmad ( amirrudin@umt.edu.my ) © Muhamad Fatihah Syafiq, Baizul Hafsham Badli-Sham, Mohamad Aqmal-Naser, Muhammad Fahmi-Ahmad, Syed Ahmad Fariduddin Bin Syed Abd Ghani, Mohd Izham Mohd A Wahid, Farah Hazirah Amir, Gukaaneswaran Kaliyappan, Nur Nadhirah Sapri, Nurziattul Farhana Nordin, Joehan Azzimin, Muhammad Shahril-Ridhwan, Tng Kei Li, Ng Shu Xin, Syed Ahmad Rizal, Amirrudin Ahmad. This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Syafiq MF, Badli-Sham BH, Aqmal-Naser M, Fahmi-Ahmad M, Bin Syed Abd Ghani SAF, Mohd A Wahid MI, Amir FH, Kaliyappan G, Sapri NN, Nordin NF, Azzimin J, Shahril-Ridhwan M, Kei Li T, Shu Xin N, Rizal SA, Ahmad A (2024) Herpetofauna Diversity of The Disturbed and Isolated Bukit Maras in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e122806 |  |
We present the first checklist of herpetofauna in Bukit Maras based on surveys conducted from 2019 to 2023. Visual Encounter Surveys (VES) and drift-fenced pitfall traps were employed as collection methods. Our study documented a total of 55 herpetofauna species, comprising 23 amphibians and 32 reptiles. Among these, the critically endangered species, Manouria emys (according to the IUCN Red List) is a species of high conservation concern. The non-asymptotic nature of the Species Accumulation Curve (SAC) suggests that further sampling efforts could reveal additional species. Species-habitat network analysis revealed variations in species composition across different habitat types. Notably, secondary forest exhibited higher herpetofauna diversity compared to agricultural areas. Therefore, the conservation of remaining secondary forest in Bukit Maras is crucial for preserving its herpetofauna and mitigating anthropogenic impacts on this disturbed and isolated ecosystem.