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This
monograph is the eleventh to be published in a series planned on the Bornean 'macrolepidoptera'
superfamilies Cossoidea, Zygaenoidea, Bombycoidea (including Sphingidae),
Noctuoidea, Geometroidea, Calliduloidea and Castnioidea. Parts will appear over
the next few years as regularly as 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 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 of the very rich South East Asian and Sundanian
macrolepidoptera fauna. In turn, they complement a Japanese series on The
Moths of Nepal, published as supplements to the journal Tinea.
The 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 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 this part, the many
species previously placed in the genus Euproctis are mostly distributed
amongst more apposite genera, with description of a few new ones.
As the series is completed it may be revised, indexed and reissued in three or
four bound volumes as a full reference work. A field guide incorporating the
colour plates is also being considered. Negotiations are in progress in Malaysia
to produce an Internet edition.
London
1999
Hard copy is available from:
Southene Sdn Bhd
P.O Box 10139
50704 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Phone : +603 4022 2653
Fax : +603 4022 2267
Email : hsbar@pc.jaring.my |
J.D.H. |
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