Assessment of the current state of biodiversity data for the brush-footed butterfly (nymphalidae: nymphalinae) in sarawak using museum specimens

Butterflies have frequently been employed worldwide as biological indicator of environmental disturbance with corresponding value for conservation inventory or evaluating anthropogenic disturbances in forest habitat. Even though the butterfly fauna of Borneo can be considered as well documented, knowledge on these butterflies is still lacking and many areas in Sarawak have not been studied and surveyed. Furthermore, knowledge on these butterflies of Sarawak is still fragmented and information is still scattered in various sources. The objective of this study were to assess the faunistic composition of the subfamily Nymphalinae based on existing voucher specimens of the Nymphalinae butterflies in Sarawak and to document and map their ecological distribution. This study was based on the collection of voucher specimens deposited in UNIMAS Insect References Collection (UlRC) and Sarawak Forest Research Centre (SFRC). A total of 2,388 specimens, comprising 96 species from six tribes and 36 genera were recorded. This represents 78.69% of the total of 122 species ofNymphalinae recorded in Borneo. The tribe Limenitidini dominated other tribes in species composition with 60.42% domination with their main occurrence in northern and southern Sarawak, followed by the tribe Heliconiini ( 15.63%), Nymphalini ( 11.46%) and Cyrestini (6.25%). The tribe Pseudergolini and Apaturini represented the smallest tribe with three species (3. I 3%) recorded for each tribe. Thus, study shown that Junonia orithya metion was the most abundant (343 specimens), hence, it could be considered as the most common Nymphalinae species found in Sarawak. Most of the species were found to be distributed along the west-coast of Sarawak and were widely distributed in mixed dipterocarp forest as well as peat swamp forest. Three endemic species to Borneo are also found in Sarawak, namely Chersonesia excellens, Stibochiona schoenbergi and Tanaecia orphne. These endemic species should be conserved as the loss of their natural habitat might lead to global extinctions. The findings from this study will provide current baseline record which could be used for future references in biodiversity conservation and management in Sarawak