An Identification Manual and a Taxonomic Foundation for the Future

Publication Mission Completed!

Identification & Taxonomy.  200+ colour plates; 4,000+ pages; 4,000+ species; 18 separately bound Parts.

Probably the most detailed taxonomic study on this scale of any tropical moth fauna ever. The [...]]]>

An Identification Manual and a Taxonomic Foundation for the Future

Publication Mission Completed!

The Moths of Borneo

Identification & Taxonomy.  200+ colour plates; 4,000+ pages; 4,000+ species; 18 separately bound Parts.

Probably the most detailed taxonomic study on this scale of any tropical moth fauna ever. The work is divided into 18 Parts, published between 1985 and 2011.

4630 species of adult ‘macro’ moths are imaged & described in detail with photos of each one in 202 colour plates. There are 4,048 text pages with 6903 B&W images of genitalia in 918 b&w plates.

Super-families covered are the Cossoidea, Zygaenoidea, Calliduloidea, Drepanoidea, Lasiocampoidea, Bombycoidea, Geometroidea and Noctuoidea i.e all the ‘macro’ groups.

24% of the species are described and named as new to science. Numerical analysis of the data suggests that between 80 and 90% of the entire ‘macro’ Bornean fauna has been listed. As listed, the Borneo representatives comprise some 6% of the global ‘macro’ moth fauna.

Note for the innocent: ‘macro’ moths are those placed in the super-families traditionally studied because they are (with many exceptions) physically larger than the ‘micro’ moths.

It is now possible to identify up to 90% of all the larger moths of Borneo, and a high proportion of species in the wider region of SE Asia, making MoB a key source for regional as well as Borneo based studies. It also has considerable relevance for identifying the faunas of both the Indian subregion and the Western Pacific.

Each species entry gives name, date & author, synonymy, markings, venation, genitalia structure, type locality, geographical range, altitude and habitat preference. In species where adult males and females look different, both are figured. Food plant and larval form are given where known.

The natural history of Bornean moths lacks detail. This will now change that the identification tools are available.

All genera have been revised and formally defined.. Much current taxonomic work has been incorporated. In fact half of all genus+species combinations have been changed.

Part 2, the last to be produced, published in July 2011, has:

• A 194 pp. Checklist for the entire set of 18 parts.
• Notes to support this Checklist
• Errata (4pp.) for all 18 Parts (a remarkably small number of errors for a 4,000 page text!)
• An Appendix:  The Moths of Borneo: Building on the Past with the Benefit of Fresh Field Sampling to Construct a Taxonomic Foundation for the Future
• References
• An Index to Species & Genera for all 18 Parts

The Author:

Dr Jeremy Daniel Holloway is the world authority on the moths & butterflies of Borneo.

Educated in the UK at Bryanston School and Cambridge, he is not only a lepidopterist but also a specialist in the numerical analysis of biogeographical and ecological data.

His first encounter with the moth fauna of Mt Kinabalu was in 1965, in the company of Dato’ Henry Barlow, whose Malaysian publishing company Southdene Sdn Bhd has sponsored this Moths of Borneo project since its inception in 1980.

Apart from Sabah, he has been on field expeditions to Sarawak, Sulawesi, Seram in the Moluccas, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island, from his base in the Natural History Museum in London. His international network includes taxonomists in China, Japan, Australia, continental Europe, Russia and the USA.

In 1995 he was awarded the Karl Jordan Medal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, in part for his work on this series.

MoB physical details & dimensions:  18 Parts; soft back; page size 18cm width, 26cm height; relevant plates bound at the back of each Part on art paper with legends on facing pages., weight 11.5kg

Borneo Books Comment

We have stocked “The Moths of Borneo” as it appeared Part by Part since 1999 and regard it as a major landmark in Lepidoptera taxonomy. It is unique amongst tropical moth monographs in its reach and depth, and opens up many opportunities for biogeographical, ecological and conservation studies. It is a ‘must have’ set for the serious lepidopterist or institutions involved in forestry, agriculture or other land use, and for conservation bodies. Field centres will find it a valuable research facility.

It also functions well as an identification guide for the non-specialist. Matching photos to images is easy in most cases (although photos of living specimens often have fresher colours). Resort owners will find it increases satisfaction of guests curious about the moths they are seeing.

We are offering the 18 part set at a special price of RM2,000.00 (a 10% discount on the price of the individual Part prices) plus postage as follows;

Insurance: for every RM100 value, we charge RM1.50

RM2000÷100 = 20;   20×1.50 = RM30.00

SeaMail Options incl Insurance Australia – RM2,113.43 MYR Germany – RM2,123.99 MYR Japan – RM2,129.10 MYR UK – RM2,148.35 MYR USA – RM2,233.71 MYR

Air Mail Options incl Insurance

Australia – RM2,338.36 MYR Germany – RM2,589.98 MYR Japan – RM2,425.44 MYR UK – RM2,654.94 MYR USA – RM2,903.20 MYR

For different destinations or individual Parts please contact us and we will be happy to quote accordngly. Contact Us Here

Borneo Books is steadily increasing its internet business…thanks to those of you who have used our service over the last 12 years.

We see scope for increasing the number of titles we sell online [...]]]> Best wishes to all for 2012. This could be an interesting year both globally & locally here in Sabah, Malaysia

Borneo Books is steadily increasing its internet business…thanks to those of you who have used our service over the last 12 years.

We see scope for increasing the number of titles we sell online (a lot fewer than in our shop in KK) and we are thinking of selling hardback 2nd hand books (we have a large stock of rather offbeat ones). We also have some stock of old postcards, prints, maps and magazines. And we have several new titles to put up.

So, do keep a look out for new offerings over the next 12 months.

The Iranun, an ethnolinguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah (formerly British North Borneo), are a people whose origins and pre-colonial history remain a mystery.

Although their culture is much admired and has been copied widely, their language is under threat, and with it their identity. Their traditional textile forms, material culture, [...]]]>

The Iranun, an ethnolinguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah (formerly British North Borneo), are a people whose origins and pre-colonial history remain a mystery.

Although their culture is much admired and has been copied widely, their language is under threat, and with it their identity. Their traditional textile forms, material culture, musical instruments and clothing have been adopted by others. Even their horsemanship has been credited to another ethnic group. The Iranun villages are mostly clustered close to the coast near the town of Kota Belud in NW Sabah.

The writers in this volume explore the Iranun language and customs, including their music, traditional birth practices, weddings and death. It shows how a small community (in the low tens of thousands) in Sabah is changing and adapting to a constantly shifting environment – and is in danger of identity loss, to the detriment of the nation as a whole.

Note:  Colonial literature is full of fearful references to the Illanun, the name by which the Iranun were officially known until 1988. Lanun in Malay means pirate – hence the fear. There is still an ethnic group in the S. Phillipines known as the Illanun, and the Maranao language of that region has strong resemblances to the Iranun language.

Recently Borneo Books spent 3 days at the annual get together of birders from across SE Asia. It was held at the Rainforest Discovery Centre at Sepilok, near Sandakan. This is over the east side of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, just near the Orang Utan Conservation Centre. The highlight for [...]]]>

Dancer welcoming Festival guests

Recently Borneo Books spent 3 days at the annual get together of birders from across SE Asia. It was held at the Rainforest Discovery Centre at Sepilok, near Sandakan. This is over the east side of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, just near the Orang Utan Conservation Centre. The highlight for Borneo Books was the launch of the 2nd edition of Quentin Phillipps’ ‘Birds of Borneo’, a combined identification and ecology guide to the 660+ species recorded so far on the island of Borneo.

Quentin Phillipps signing copies of his book 'Birds of Borneo'

This book is proving very popular, witness the fact that it has gone into a 2nd edition after only 2 years.