UMS Borneensis Gallery Displays 400 Species Of Preserved Butteerflies For Academic Reference

KOTA KINABALU, Dec 31 (Bernama) -- More than 400 species of preserved butterflies are housed in the Borneensis collection room of the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC) of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) here.

Senior Curator of Borneensis Gallery Petherine Jimbau said some of the species on display at the Borneensis Gallery included a pair of the national butterflies Rajah's Brooke (Trogonoptera brookiana) which are listed in Appendix II of CITES.

She said the exhibition section also displayed a poster of the Sabah state butterfly, the Golden Kalibambang or its scientific name Troides Andromache, after it was chosen as the official butterfly of Sabah on Sept 13 last year.

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This was to introduce the Golden Kalibambang as the Sabah state butterfly to visitors because the gallery did not yet have a collection of the butterfly.

"The Borneensis Gallery welcomes the Golden Kalibambang specimen as a reference for students and researchers in the future.

"The preserved butterflies were obtained from research, fieldwork and expeditions by staff, lecturers and students to be used as a reference for researchers from home and abroad, and some were even donated by foreign researcher friends," she told Bernama.

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The gallery, which was inaugurated on March 13, 2016, also showcases the diversity of flora and fauna found in Sabah, especially specimens that are hard to find, unique and endemic, and carries out various activities to the point of being able to receive more than 10,000 local and international visitors a year.

She said among the activities carried out at the 430 square metre Borneensis Gallery are study tours, guided tours, courses related to flora and fauna, specimen identification and preservation activities, environmental education camps (Borneensis Friends Programme) for secondary school students and exhibitions.

The gallery also houses other preserved animal species, namely the marmoset, pangolins, moon rats, kongkang, Dutch monkeys (preserved dry/taxidermy), Borneo pygmy elephant skeletons, orangutan skeletons, snakes, frogs, fish, various types of insects, mollusks, fungi and plant specimens.

Meanwhile, photographer Jamiun Micheal, 43, began actively collecting and photographing butterflies since 2012 but his interest in these insects began when he was in his teens.

He said that with his hobby which focuses more on butterflies, to date he has recorded 196 species of butterflies, including those from the Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Hesperiidae and Riodinidae families.

He said the process of identifying the butterfly species was quite complicated and required scientific books as a reference, in addition to communicating with butterfly experts in Singapore and sharing pictures on his social media so that the community abroad could provide information on the butterfly.

"I hope to be able to identify pictures of butterflies that are still in storage that do not have an 'ID' because some butterflies are difficult to identify if only based on pictures, some need to go through tests such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)," he said

Jamiun added that to get pictures of butterflies, he would go into the forest or any forest reserve area because some species are only found at a certain altitude, some are also easily found in lowland areas, residential areas and some species like to live near rivers.

Jamiun said his challenge now is to get pictures of the Golden Kalibambang in its original habitat which can only be found in highland areas in Sabah and Sarawak.

"I prefer to take pictures of butterflies in their natural habitat. If I have the opportunity, I will definitely take lots of pictures of this species from various angles," he said. The pictures of butterflies taken by his camera can be seen on his blog, jamiun.com.

-- BERNAMA