123 New Species Discovered in Heart Of Borneo

The pristine rainforests of Central Borneo.

For centuries, Borneo has captured the fascination of explorers and naturalists from all over the world. Alfred Russel Wallace, one of the prominent Naturalist of his time, described "my pleasure was increased as I daily got numbers of species, and many genera which I had not met with before" during his stay in Sarawak in 1855.

The increasingly well-known, species rich Maliau Basin in Central Sabah, Northern Borneo.

Centuries on, as a continuing testimonial to the biodiversity of Borneo, an astounding 123 new species has been found in the deep forests of Borneo stretching 220,000km square across three countries namely Brunei, Indonesia (Kalimantan) and Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak states) in the short time span of 3 years.

One of the many rivers that made up Borneo's important wetlands, leading people to term Borneo as "The Amazon of Southeast Asia"

The discoveries range from the giant half-metre long Chan's Stick Insect (Phobaeticus chanii) to Kopstein's Bronzeback Snake (Dendrelaphis kopsteini) , from rare wild orchid (Thrixspermum erythrolomum) to colour changing flying frogs (Rhacophorus penanorum) , Lungless frog (Barbourula kalimantanensis) to Freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium kelianense) and many other amazing creatures. (click this link for more info)

Tall dipterocarp forests spread over much of the remaining lowland primary forests of Borneo. Shown here is the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary's forest canopy.

Among the discoveries is the mollusc-Ibycus rachelae, a long tailed slug found in the mist covered, montane forests of Mount Kinabalu and described by Menno Schilthuizen and Liew Thor-Seng. It has a peculiar calcium-carbonate-made-love dart which penetrates its mate partner during courtship and injects hormones to "seduce" its mate and increase reproduction chances. Easy to romanticise and entitle this slug to be named "the real cupid"!

Logging roads criss-crossing the terrain in Northern Borneo. This activity, along with expanding oil palm plantations, are among the many threats this biodiversity hotspot faces.

Borneo is indeed crawling with new wildlife and plants waiting to be discovered. Who knows, every daily stroll in the Borneo forest will produce several new to science creatures and plants? This is really a place worth exploring!

A sparkling, intricately shaped spider's web under the tropical sun rays filtered by the canopy foliage. One of the many natural wonders found in Borneo.

There is definitely something to explore and discover in the depths of this surprising Bornean Rainforest!

For articles about the new discoveries, check these links out:

1. Borneo's New World: New Species Discovered in the Heart of Borneo. WWF Report, 2010. (click here)

2. Heart of Borneo emerges as home of world's longest insect, lungless frog and "ninja" slug, WWF News, 2010. (click here)

Learn more about the Heart of Borneo Project, see:

1. WWF's Heart of Borneo Forests webpage.(click here)

2. WWF-Malaysia's Heart of Borneo-Three Countries, One Conservation Vision webpage.

(click here)

3. The heart of Borneo Resources-Student support site.(click here)

4. Fast disappearing "Heart of Borneo" is likely Home to Thousands of Species still Undiscovered. WWF Press Release, 2005.(click here)

Reference for the Ibycus rachelae slug:

1.Schiltuizen & Liew, 2008. The slugs and semislugs of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (Gastropoda, Pulmonata: Veronicellidae, Rathouisiidae, Ariophantidae, Limacinidae, Philomycidae). BASTERIA, 72: 287-306

Snailing Sipadan and Mabul

Well known as a world class diving destination, Sipadan Island and it's neighbour, Mabul Island also hold some interesting topside flora and fauna, including a hoard of new-to-science snails.
Mabul Island- A heavily developed island north of Sipadan. Most of the greenery on the island are coconut palms planted by native Bajau and Suluk people. The only remaining original forest,less than 2 acres, lies in the East side of the island. This narrow strip of forest has a wide path cutting through it the centre and is surrounded by worker's quarters and storage rooms of a nearby resort. Apparently, it lies it the property of the resort itself. I found 3 unidentified molluscs here:


Obba cf. marginata- Found dead in a cleared area near the forest. I tried to find live ones in the forest but couldn't. It resembles Obba marginata from Mindanao,Southern Philippines.




Videna sp.- Because there is no proper study to sort out the various species of this genus, the shell's identification couldn't be ascertained. But recent studies shows that this genus does exists in the Semporna archipelago.



Amphidromus sp.- An abundance of dead specimens were discovered around the coconut plantations and resorts. The broken shell on the left shows the original colouration. No live snails found.






Sipadan Island- Relatively untouched by resort development due to strict management rules and it's status as a marine sanctuary. Other than several abandoned chalets in the North, this island is densely covered with coastal forest vegetation. There are lots of hermit crabs, skinks and clouded monitor lizards (Varanus bengalensis nebulosus). Lucky visitors might be able to see the endangered nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica)as well as the rare ground dwelling megapode bird(Megapodius cummingii).The biodiversity here is intact. It also supports a healthy population of molluscs:

Pythia scarabaeus- Abundant amongst trees trunks, stems, fallen leaves etc. A widespread species throughout Southeast Asia's coasts.







Amphidromus sp.- Found living on pandanus sp. trees' aerial roots. It has a zigzag patterned periotracum. Different from Mabul Island's amphidromus as it has less whorls than Mabul's. Possible endemic species.





Both islands illustrates the diversity of the region as well as it's problems vividly. Mabul has lost most of it's diversity due to over development whereas Sipadan shows the success of the sanctuary's strict laws of conservation. They also revealed the undiscovered molluscan fauna of the Semporna archipelago. The new discoveries beckons......