Diversity of Land Snail and Slug of Gunung Gading National Park, Sarawak

Abstract

Gunung Gading was officially gazetted as a national park in 1994. Since then, many studies have been conducted to record the diversity of various plants and animals in this area yet the study of terrestrial molluscs remains poorly documented. Therefore, with similar objectives, the first survey was conducted on the diversity of land snails and slugs of Gunung Gading National Park. A survey was conducted from 7th to 11th May 2023 to determine the diversity of land snails and slugs in the vicinity of Gunung Gading. As a result, a total of 540 individuals comprising 20 species of land snails and one species of slug from 19 genera and 10 families have been collected. The study found that the family Cyclophoridae is the most diverse land snail species with a total of six species with 72.59% relative abundance, while the family Helicarionidae and Vallonidae are considered as the least diverse family of land snail with both families comprises of two species with 0.19% relative abundance, respectively. Cyclophorus perdix borneenis is found as the most abundant species with approximately 48.89% of the total number of individuals found. Ecological indices were analysed, comprising species richness (Margalef’s index) = 3.02, diversity index (Shannon Wiener’s index; H’) = 1.878, dominance index (Simpson’s index) = 0.7257 and evenness index = 0.327. Based on these diversity indices, it indicates that the area has moderate diversity considering it is a non-karst area. Gunung Gading National Park also exhibits a unique ecological dynamic due to its higher species richness but less balanced distribution. These findings provide baseline data for terrestrial molluscs in GGNP as well as contribute to understanding community composition in non-karst tropical forests and highlight the importance of land snails and slugs in biodiversity and conservation assessments.