All Creatures Great and Small #76
New Species
A new species of pygmy grasshopper has been found near the Meligan River in Sabah. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5683.4.5
Sabah and Muslims
This article examines the historical development of Islamic expansion and the emergence of Muslim converts (mualaf) in Sabah during the British colonial period. DOI:10.6007/IJARPED/v14-i2/25548
Borneo Leaf Litter Frog
A new species of leaf litter frog has been found in Matang Sarawak. The one species has been divided into two according to the call. The slow call one remains, but the fast call is now added to the new species list. doi.org/10.5358/hsj.44.157
Herbarium Collection
· The Malesian Herbarium of Odoardo Beccari, a Borneo naturalist from Italy, is kept in Florence and is dedicated to algae. It includes representatives of 107 taxa from seven phyla, 15 classes, 37 orders, and 56 families. Sixty-four original specimens were found, for which 32 new names had been published. doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2025.2541739
Slow Loris
Everything you ever wanted to know about the endangered slow loris. (What is a slow loris?)
New Species
Hanguana is a genus of flowering plant with a dozen or so species. Two new species have been discovered in western Sarawak. This brings to eleven the number of known species in Borneo. URL: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.55.12
Raptors
A summary of raptors in Indonesia is included in this report. https//doi.org/10.4080/swr.lbdd9753
Malaria
The emergence of zoonotic malaria in Indonesia from Sarawak has altered the dynamics of malaria management and control in the pursuit of total eradication among the human population. doi.org/10.18051/UnivMed.2025.v44.208-218
Betta Species
Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo, is home to several indigenous Betta species, many of which face threats from habitat degradation. Despite their ecological and ornamental significance, limited information exists on their captive breeding potential. This study investigated the reproductive behavior and larval development of four native Betta species (Betta brownorum, Betta ibanorum, Betta macrostoma, and Betta taeniata) under controlled conditions. These findings confirm the feasibility of captive breeding in all four species and highlight differences in reproductive strategy and larval growth patterns./doi.org/10.1016/j.repbre.2025.08.002
New Species
Seven new species of flat bugs have been made known to science from Sabah. Review of the subfamily Calisiinae from Borneo
Leprosy among the Penan
The Penan community in Sarawak continues to experience a disproportionately high burden of leprosy, accounting for nearly 50% of all reported cases in the state. Leprosy is caused by a bacterium and is thought to spread by airborne droplets. Notably, almost two-thirds of these cases originate from the Upper Baram region. Despite efforts to control the disease, underlying factors contributing to the high incidence among the Penan community are not fully understood. Policy Brief: Leprosy among the Penan in Rural Baram July 2025. I have a copy.
Dayaks and the Rebuilding of Brunei Oil Fields
An article by Sridevi Menon in the Journal of International Labor and Working Class History relates the contents of two ledgers dated between the 1940s and 1950s, which account for the people who worked to rebuild the Brunei oil fields destroyed by the Japanese. It includes a section on headhunting in Northwest Borneo from 1880 to 1941. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547922000229
Fragmented Forests in Sarawak
This paper reflects the condition of two stands of forests surrounded by oil palm in Bukit Durang and and an area known as “division five.” The fragmented forests exhibited the classic features of lowland tropical rain forests. The tree communities are rich, very diverse, unevenly distributed, and have species that are randomly distributed. Both forests are generally healthy. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2026-1(9)
Frogs
The frog, known as Microhyla heymonsi was not known to be part of the frog population of Sabah or Borneo. Given this new population was recorded from a highly disturbed agricultural area, we believe that the frogs were accidentally introduced into Borneo through human activities, possibly through the import of farming materials. The specific effects of the introduction of this species into the local ecosystem here in Borneo is still unknown. Check List 21 (5) · https://doi.org/10.15560/21.5.789
Early Map
An early map(1618) of the southern Philippines shows N-S being left to right, with parts of Borneo being shown to the far right. https://hdl.handle.net/10524/84378
Marriage among the Sarawak Bugis
The Sarawak Bugis arrived in Sarawak in the late precolonial period into the 19th century from South Sulawesi, Indonesia. They maintained their maritime culture as well as marriage customs. This study analyzes the various things used in the marriage ceremony, including pillows, sarongs, banana and jackfruit leaves, candles, henna, metal, rice, coconut oil betel leaves and cigarettes. https://doi.org/10.24191/ijad.v9i2,%20SI-3.8823
Elevation and Species
This study is the first to provide information on the elevational distributions, habitat preferences, and habitat associations of mid- to large-bodied mammals in the mountainous areas of western Sarawak. We found that species richness did not change across elevations. As warming continues, many species may need to shift their ranges upslope. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.70087
Crickets
The calls of two species of crickets have been recorded in two parts of Sabah in Borneo. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5692.1.5
Swamp Buffalo
The swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis carabanensis) plays a crucial role in agriculture across Southeast Asia but is increasingly underutilized in regions like Sabah, Malaysia. This study presents the first comprehensive statewide genetic assessment of Sabahan swamp buffalo to investigate maternal origins and assess genetic diversity.
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180925
Turtle
Orlitia borneensis (Gray, 1873), the Malaysian Giant Turtle, is a freshwater turtle native across SoutheastAsia and has been assessed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. We report the first record of this species in Belitung, a remote island in Indonesia, based on photographs. The record is approximately 200 km to the west of the nearest locality in Borneo and 250 km to the east of the nearest locality in Sumatra. This species was found at a site with slow-flowing waters and forested hills 70 m above sea level. Check List 21 (5) · https://doi.org/10.15560/21.5.807
White-Bearded Gibbon
The Bornean white-bearded gibbon (Hylobates albibarbis) is endemic to southern Borneo,
occurring within Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan provinces, south of the Kapuas River and west of the Bario River. We deployed eight autonomous recording units across three forest types in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, collecting 23,244 hours of acoustic data over 18 months. A pretrained deep learning automated detector was applied to identify great calls, performed by female gibbons as part of morning duets and a key indicator for comparing population density. We identified 83,956 great calls and examined how daily call rates varied across habitats and in response to seasonal rainfall. Daily call rates did not differ significantly among forest types but showed significant changes over the survey period. I have a copy.
Compiled by Tom McLaughlin for BorneoHistory.net