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RESEARCH ON THE DIVERSITY OF MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES IN MALAYSIA AND THEIR USE AS
BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS
lowlands below 750 m, and one-seventh of the species occur in the highlands. The rest are
found in habitats at both elevations.
Moths are more speciose than butterflies, and taxonomically they have been better studied in
Borneo than in the Malay Peninsula. They are commonly divided into the bigger macromoths
and the smaller micromoths. According to Holloway (pers. comm.), there are just over 4,000
species of macromoths in Borneo. Most of them are also found in the Malay Peninsula. Robinson
& Tuck (1993) estimated the number of species of the lesser-studied micromoths in South-
East Asia to be more than 6,000, with most of the species occurring in Malaysia. Moths are
more diverse between 500 metres and 1,000 metres above sea level (Chey 1998), where there
is an overlap of both lowland and montane elements.
THREATENED SPECIES
CITES (2001) includes all the birdwing butterflies (Troides spp.) in Appendix II. This also
covers the exceedingly beautiful Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing, Troides (Trogonoptera) brookiana,
found in Malaysia. In the IUCN Red Data Book on threatened swallowtail butterflies of the
world (Collins & Morris 1985), three endemic species found in Malaysian Borneo are listed
in the threatened categories, namely Papilio acheron, Graphium procles, and Troides
andromache. They are mainly montane species. Another two species, Papilio mahadeva (in
the Malay Peninsula) and Papilio karna (in Borneo), were said to require further monitoring
and research. However, it is not only the sought-after, showy butterflies, which are threatened.
As more lowland forests are being cleared, the families with a high proportion of lowland
endemics with forest-restricted distribution, such as the lasiocampid and limacodid moths
(Holloway & Barlow 1992) and the satyrid and amathusiid butterflies (Hamer et al. 2003), are
losing much of their habitat. Paradoxically some species of limacodids may be able to persist
(a few with pest status) in palm plantations such as oil palm and coconut.
TAXONOMY
The main taxonomic monograph on butterflies in the Malay Peninsula was written by Corbet
& Pendlebury (4 th edition, 1992, revised and enlarged by J.N. Eliot). Volumes written by
Otsuka (1988) on the bigger butterflies (Papilionidae, Pieridae and Nymphalidae), Seki et al.
(1991) on the Lycaenidae and Maruyama (1991) on the Hesperiidae form the primary
monograph in Borneo. Revisions of some groups are also being carried out, e.g., the rattanfeeding
hesperiid genus, Zela (Kirton & Eliot 2004). Abang et al. (2004) described 11 new
subspecies of butterflies of the families Pieridae, Nymphalidae, and Lycaenidae found in
Balambangan island, Borneo.
For moths, introductory monographs have been published by Barlow (1982), focusing mainly
on macromoths, and Robinson et al. (1994), focusing on micromoths. A major taxonomic
work on the macros is being published in the “Moths of Borneo” series by Holloway (1983,
1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989a, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003). A further volume,
consisting of two more parts, is about to go to press at the time of writing.
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