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AN OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ON BEETLE DIVERSITY & TAXONOMY IN MALAYSIA
Much of the research work in the past focused only on certain beetle taxa and not on Coleoptera
as a whole. It is important that more research is conducted to study and understand beetles as
a group, in order to gain a more comprehensive picture of this order collectively.
BEETLE REFERENCE COLLECTIONS IN MALAYSIA
As with all animal or plant groups, a reference collection of beetles is important for the study
of their systematics as well as their diversity and, ultimately, forms the basis for their
conservation. It provides basic, salient information, and the primary evidence for existence of
species. Besides being indispensable to taxonomic work, a good beetle collection is part of
the local, national, regional and international natural heritage (Abang & Ghazally 2001, Chung
& Chey 2001). Beetle collections are usually an integral part of insect collections in general,
which are often housed by museums, Federal or State Departments of Forestry and Agriculture,
research institutions and universities. A list of the depositories that house existing insect
collections in Malaysia has been provided by Abang and Ghazally (2001).
To date, there are approximately 1,700 species of beetles from 89 families in the Coleoptera
collection of the Forest Research Centre in Sepilok, Sandakan. Although some are
morphospecies – that is, they are recognised as having different morphology even though it is
uncertain if they are different species – this number still probably reflects a very high number
of true species. At the Sarawak Forest Research Centre in Kuching, more than 350,000
specimens from 31 families have been recorded, but only about 10% are identified to genus
level (Lucy Chong, pers. comm.). There is also a good collection of beetles at Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, with more than 600 identified beetle species, mainly from the
family Chrysomelidae (Anon. 1996, Mohamedsaid 1996b). However, after the retirement of
Prof. Mohamed Salleh Mohamedsaid, there is no other beetle specialist working on this group
(Azman S., pers. comm.). A total of 61 families have been recorded at the Forest Research
Institute Malaysia (FRIM) in Kepong (S. Cheng, pers. comm.). Other prominent beetle
collections are in the Sarawak Museum and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Abang et al., 1996),
Universiti Malaya and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
THE NEED FOR COOPERATION IN RESEARCH ON BEETLE
DIVERSITY AND TAXONOMY IN MALAYSIA
The high diversity of beetles in Malaysia practically guarantees that one will always be
encountering beetles that have never been collected before, thus, classifying and identifying
them can be a daunting task. Unlike many other insect orders, the taxonomy of beetles is
difficult and unstable. The status of some families is very uncertain, while the classification of
some obscure families varies, subject to the different views of different beetle taxonomists.
Many of the characters used to delineate families are very general, being applicable to various
beetle families. Being very diverse, there are many exceptions in the characters used. For
example, some tenebrionids look almost identical to erotylids or coccinellids. In view of these
difficulties, experience, skill and time are important when working on beetle diversity. It is
also essential for beetle specialists to cooperate and share information, in order to be more
effective in advancing our understanding of beetle taxonomy and diversity.
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