Taxon Expeditions

“Tiny, beautiful, and completely unknown animals”: Citizen scientists discover new beetles from the Borneo forest

The field trip allowed laypeople to participate in the study of biodiversity, and to discover and name a new species.

The undiscovered small beetles in the tropical rainforest are probably endless. But that did not discourage citizen scientists on expeditions to the Ulu Temburong forest in Borneo to keep adding them to scientific records, one at a time. Together with a team of researchers, they published a new species, Clavicornaltica mataikanensis in the open-access peer-reviewed Biodiversity Data Journal.

The minute, two-mm-long leaf beetle that lives on the forest floor is the latest discovery of Taxon Expeditions, which organises scientific field trips for teams consisting of both scientists and lay people. Unlike other science/adventure trips, Taxon Expeditions organises real scientific expeditions for lay people, guiding them in the discovery of new species of animals, by focusing on the thousands of ‘little things that run the world’.

Citizen scientists, students, and researchers working together in the rainforest. Credit: Taxon Expeditions – Sotiris Kountouras

Clavicornaltica mataikanensis, named for the stream Mata Ikan (“fish eye”) that runs in the valley where it was found, is one of a plethora of tiny beetle species that live in the leaf litter of tropical forests—and most of them have not yet been scientifically described and named. At 2 mm long, the flea beetle is actually one of the largest among its relatives – which might explain why so little is known about their ecology and diversity.

The Ulu Temburong forest in Brunei. Credit: Taxon Expeditions – Sotiris Kountouras

The field trip, in which local students and researchers also took part, gave untrained lay people the opportunity to participate in the study of this hidden world of biodiversity and in the process of naming and publishing new species. Participant Lehman Ellis, from the US, says it was “exciting and beautiful” to be part of the discovery.

Citizen scientist Eleonora Nigro in the field lab working on the publication. Credit: Taxon Expeditions – Iva Njunjić

Entomologist and founder of Taxon Expeditions, Dr. Iva Njunjić, says: “We introduce the general public to all these tiny, beautiful, and completely unknown animals, and show them that there is a whole world still to be discovered.”

Research article:

Otani S, Bertoli L, Lucchini F, van den Beuken TPG, Boin D, Ellis L, Friedrich H, Jacquot B, Kountouras S, Lim SR, Nigro E, Su’eif S’ie, Tan WH, Grafe U, Cicuzza D, Delledonne M, Njunjić I, Schilthuizen M (2024) A new, unusually large, Clavicornaltica Scherer, 1974 flea beetle from Borneo, described and sequenced in the field by citizen scientists (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae). Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e119481. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e119481

Citizen scientists discover new ‘snug’ in Brunei forest, name it after retiring field centre manager

Working with the scientific travel agency Taxon Expeditions, citizen scientists studed specimens, and analyse their DNA in a field camp in the heart of the forest.

Semislugs, or ‘snugs’ as they are affectionately known among mollusc researchers, are like the squatters of the snail world: they do carry a home on their back but it is too small to live in. Still, it offers a sort of protection, while not getting in the way of the worm-like physique of the slug. For reasons unknown, on the island of Borneo, which is shared among the countries of Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia, most slugs are of the semislug type. The genus Microparmarion there consists of around 10 semislug species, most of which are found in the cooler forests of the mountains. So, when citizen scientists discovered a Microparmarion in the hot lowland forest of Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei, as part of their expedition, they were surprised.

A team of citizen scientists in the Brunei forest, searching for slugs and snails.

For the past years, the scientific travel agency Taxon Expeditions, in collaboration with Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) has been organising biodiversity discovery trips for scientists, students, and laypersons to this forest. On the first trip, in 2018, during a night walk, participant Simon Berenyi, who runs an ethical pest control company in the UK, reached up to a dead leaf suspended over the trail. Everybody—the other participants, even the resident snail expert—had ducked and passed underneath this dead leaf without so much as giving it a glance. But something on its surface caught Simon’s eye. “Oi, is that a slug?” he exclaimed, and picked a slimy, well-camouflaged mollusc off it.

At the time, the team’s zoologists already suspected it was a new species – nothing like it had ever been found in this corner of the island. But that single specimen was not enough to publish its description as a new species. Over the years, successive expeditions to the same area came up with several more specimens of the same species, which made it clear that it was really a species never seen before.

On the 2022 expedition, a team composed of UBD students Nurilya Ezzwan and Izzah Hamdani and citizen scientist Harrison Wu from Virginia, USA, finished the description. Using the portable lab that Taxon Expeditions always carries with them, the team studied the animals’ shell, reproductive organs, and DNA, and prepared a paper for the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal, where it was published this week.

Citizen scientists from three continents help discover a new, giant slug from Europe

As usual on Taxon Expedition trips, on the last night the team voted on the scientific name for the new species. With an overwhelming majority, the ‘snug’ was named after Mr. Md Salleh Abdullah Bat, the field centre supervisor, who would retire just weeks after the team left. Mr. Salleh himself agrees that it is indeed a very fitting farewell gift.

Research article:

Schilthuizen M, Berenyi S, Ezzwan NSMN, Hamdani NIAA, Wu H, De Antoni L, Vincenzi L, de Gier W, van Peursen ADP, Njunjić I, Delledonne M, Slik F, Grafe U, Cicuzza D (2023) A new semi-slug of the genus Microparmarion from Brunei, discovered, described and DNA-barcoded on citizen-science ‘taxon expeditions’ (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Ariophantidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 11: e101579. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e101579

Photos by Pierre Escoubas

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Citizen scientists discover pinhead-sized beetle in Borneo

The discovery is the latest in a series of newly described species collected as part of the Taxon Expeditions initiative aiming to bring biodiversity and taxonomy closer to the layperson

How many citizen scientists does it take to discover a new species? A recent expedition to the Ulu Temburong forest in Borneo proved that you only need 10 enthusiasts with no professional training, yet fueled with curiosity and passion for the outdoors, to find a new beetle the size of a pinhead in leaf litter.

*The newly discovered species of leaf beetle, Clavicornaltica belalongensis Photo by Taxon Expeditions – Pierre Escoubas.*

The species, named Clavicornaltica belalongensis, is a tiny, 1.25-mm-long leaf beetle that eats moss on the forest floor. Published in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal, it is the latest discovery from Taxon Expeditions, an initiative that organises scientific field trips to remote and biodiverse locations for teams of scientists and laypeople.

*The Ulu Temburong forest, Borneo. Photo by Taxon Expeditions – Pierre Escoubas.*

Unlike other science/adventure trips, Taxon Expeditions gives a unique opportunity for laypeople, or citizen scientists, to describe and publish new species of animals and focus on the thousands of ‘little things that run the world’. Thanks to the initiative, they learn about tropical biology techniques while participating in the process of taxonomy and the study of hidden biodiversity.

The new beetle, for example, is one of hundreds of thousands of tiny beetle species that inhabit the leaf litter of tropical forests and have remained unknown and scientifically unnamed up to our days.

In a YouTube video, Simon Berenyi, who joined the expedition along with his 14-year-old son, says: ‘I had no idea how special this would be; you become a student again – you become a child again.’

Entomologist and founder of Taxon Expeditions, Dr. Iva Njunjić explains: ‘We introduce the general public to all these tiny, beautiful, and completely unknown animals, and show them that there is a whole world still to be discovered.’

Last year, another survey in Borneo organised by Taxon Expeditions ended up with the description of a new water beetle species (Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi). Named after famous Hollywood actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio. The discovery raised a real furore on the public scene, culminating in the new insect making an appearance on the profile image of the celebrity’s facebook page.

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Original source:

Schilthuizen M, Berenyi A, Limin A, Brahim A, Cicuzza D, Eales A, Escoubas P, Grafe U, de Groot M, Hayden W, Paterno M, Jambul R, Slik J, Ting Teck Wah D, Tucker A, Njunjić I (2019) A new species of Clavicornaltica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), discovered and described on a field course to Kuala Belalong, Brunei. Biodiversity Data Journal 7: e32555. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.7.e32555

Citizen scientists discover 6 new species of beetles in Borneo

Scientists estimate that 80% of the world’s animal and plant species are still unknown. Although the work of taxonomists (whose job is to describe and name those) is appreciated by the general public, funding for taxonomy is dwindling. Moreover, while the areas hosting most of the unknown biodiversity are under threat, time is running out.

To help solve this problem, Taxon Expeditions has become the first organisation in the world to initiate field courses for citizen scientists in biodiversity hotspots, with the aim of discovering, describing, naming, and publishing new species under the slogan “You can be Darwin too”.

“Relying on extra hands means that unknown species can be discovered faster and,” says Taxon Expeditions director and biologist Dr. Iva Njunjic, “for some of that work, you don’t even need to be a trained taxonomist.”

Taxon Expedition’s first field course to the remote 30-kilometre-wide Maliau Basin in Malaysian Borneo, yielded six new species. Three of those, all tiny beetles living in rainforest leaf litter, are published today in the Biodiversity Data Journal. The other three, belonging to the family Elmidae (riffle beetles) will be published next year.

Citizen scientists discovered these species during a field exercise employing the method of ‘Winkler extraction’. Using this technique, dead leaves are collected from the rainforest floor before being sieved, so that hundreds of tiny soil-dwelling insects can be revealed.

Professor Menno Schilthuizen recognised three of those as new species. Under his guidance, the participants studied, photographed and drew the specimens in the expedition’s field lab, extracted their DNA and finalised a draft ready for publication.

The participants also came up with the original names for the three new species. English teacher Sean Otani from Japan decided to name Colenisia chungi after Malaysian entomologist Arthur Chung. The names for Clavicornaltica sabahensis and Dermatohomoeus maliauensis referring to the studied sites were suggested by staff and rangers of Maliau Conservation Area during the farewell party for the course.

All collected samples are deposited in the insect collection of Universiti Malaysia Sabah and the rest of the results – in online databases. This way, these discoveries will help other biologists working on Borneo’s biodiversity.

In March 2018, Taxon Expeditions will again head for Maliau Basin with a new group of participants, hopefully discovering more new species for science. Meanwhile, this year’s team look back on having contributed to real scientific discoveries.

“I had no idea how different, how exciting, how interesting it was going to be. It has been an amazing experience,” says retired corporate account manager Mary Erickson from Canada.

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Original source:

Schilthuizen M, Seip LA, Otani S, Suhaimi J, Njunjic I (2017) Three new minute leaf litter beetles discovered by citizen scientists in Maliau Basin, Malaysian Borneo (Coleoptera: Leiodidae, Chrysomelidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 5: e21947. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.5.e21947