Butterflies of Malaysian Borneo – A Pocket Guide
By Fatimah Abang – (2006)
130 pages; glossy art paper, with 152 colour photographs and 1 map.
Soft Cover. 19cm x 14cm.
ISBN 983-9257-65-X
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak – 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.
I had been trying for ages to find a copy of this book for some research I had been doing on fauna of Sabah and was extremely lucky to find the last new copy of this in a book shop in Penang. It is a great pity this little pocket book is now out of print, as it is basically the only recent publication on the Lepidoptera (Butterflies) of Sabah & Sarawak – Borneo.
It is presented in a modest and pleasing manner, the author humble in her approach for the love of the Lepidoptera and to share with readers her simple, yet accurate observations.
The book opens with an introduction to the Lepidoptera explaining the differences between butterflies and moths and also mentions their important role in maintaining a harmonious and productive natural environment. It then briefly explains the history and diversity of butterflies in Borneo.
It then has brief chapters on ‘butterfly morphology’, ‘life cycle’, ‘habitats and host plants’ and ‘butterfly classification’. The butterfly classification covers the families and sub-families of the butterflies that occur in Borneo. From here it presents a selection of the species representing the five families found in Borneo i.e. Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae.
A total of 100 species of the 939 known (at the time of writing) are covered with their scientific name, common name, a brief text description, length of forewing, larval food plants, general global distribution and the subspecies of Borneo where appropriate. Each species has at least one colour photo some have two. All of the individual species depicted in this section appear to be photos of mounted specimens. Some are quite clear while a few are a little out of focus.
The mounted specimens as species examples, although obviously very useful is not quite the same as seeing them photographed in a natural state. However, in the first few small chapters of the book only photographs of live specimens are provided (many of them nice quality) and the front and back covers and for the title page of each family of the five families has a live specimen blown up to a full page.
If you can get hold of it, this little book is quite useful and can be used for neighboring countries and regions and even as far as Australia, Africa and the Middle East.
Rod Rice
Principal Reviewer
Nature & Travel Books