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This
monograph brings to fifteen the parts published in a series planned on the
Bornean ‘macrolepidoptera’ superfamilies Cossoidea, Zygaenoidea, Bombycoidea
(including Sphingidae), Noctuoidea, Geometroidea, Calliduloidea and Castnioidea. The remaining parts will appear over the next few years, assuming
the vagaries of life permit. The parts printed and dates of publication so far
are shown on the back cover.
The
author is in frequent communication with the Heterocera Sumatrana team
organised by the late Dr E.W. Diehl, and the two series of publications
complement each other to provide, for the first time, fully illustrated reference
works to a large proportion (25% in the case of the Geometridae) of the very
rich South East Asian and Sundanian macrolepidoptera fauna. In turn, they
complement a Japanese series on The Moths of Nepal published in
1982, published as supplements to the journal Tinea, and a series
of illustrated guides to the moths of Thailand based on the collection of
Brother Amnuay Pinratana.
This
Bornean series is based on a large amount of recently collected material that
gives some indication of habitat preference for the species concerned. Data on
early stages and host-plants are being collated and reviewed.
Literature
on the Oriental fauna is voluminous but often without illustrations and with
poor, superficial descriptions. Synonymy presented often proves to be
erroneous. Generic placements and higher classification are often found to be
similarly superficial on close examination. This problem is dealt with more
fully in the author’s introduction for his Taxonomic Appendix to H.S. Barlow’s
An Introduction
to the Moths of South East Asia. This series on the moths of Borneo is
seen as an opportunity to establish a fresh, more stable foundation for the
study of the Indo-Australian tropical macrolepidoptera, an opportunity
facilitated by access to the wealth of historical material held in The Natural
History Museum, London, and other European Museums. The centralisation of this
material is a boon for the comparative studies necessary to provide the stable
foundation just referred to.
The
reader must be prepared, however, for major changes to previously accepted generic, or even subfamilial placements. For example, in
these parts, the traditional division of the genera into the subfamilies
Catocalinae and Ophiderinae is replaced by a series of tribal groupings and
miscellaneous sequences of genera as a contribution to work in progress by an
international consortium to produce a more satisfactory classification within
the Noctuidae.
As the
series is completed, it may be revised and reissued in three or four bound
volumes as a complete reference work. A field guide incorporating the colour
plates is also being considered, and a general index and bibliography are being
compiled. Work is well advanced in Malaysia to produce an Internet
edition, and a trial version of Part 3 of this series may be found at <http: www.arbec.com.my/moths/index.htm>.
London
2005
J.D.H.
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