KOTA KINABALU: The only book ever written on the beetles of Borneo, ‘A Guide to Beetles of Borneo’ is meant for everyone and a guide to study on local beetles.
Launched here, yesterday the book which was established through an earnest effort by three beetle aficionados, Dr Steven Bosuang, Dr Arthur Chung and Datuk C.L. Chan, is more on a pictorial presentation meant for lay people.
For this reason, Chan emphasised that they have kept the text to a minimum so that readers would not be bored. He dispelled the misperception that books of this nature are meant for scientists and researchers The 244-page educational pictorial guide covers more than 150 beetle species commonly encountered in Borneo as well as rare, interesting and captivating ones.
Chan said that more than a third of those featured in the book are endemic to Borneo.
Ninety-nine per cent of the photographs in the book were taken by Dr Bosuang who had over the years visited forest reserves all over Sabah (Trus Madi, Sandakan, Kalabakan (Tawau) and Sipitang bordering Sarawak, among others) for beetle specimens.
“We are very proud of this book because we have invested so much time and energy,” said Chan, known to be a keen naturalist, illustrator and photographer with an engrossing interest in Bornean insects, particularly stick insects and beetles.
Meanwhile, Arthur quipped that the Creator must have been very fond of beetles, given that more than 400,000 species of insects are beetles, a significant two-fifths of all six-legged creatures, versus some 250,000 species of known plants.
Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: One and only book on beetles of Borneo launched
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