Insects and Spiders of Borneo

The animal

Leaf litter and blackwater streams

2.5 hours by road from Lahad Datu, 438 square kilometres of lowland rainforest support millions of invertebrate species. You will spend your nights with a macro lens looking for lantern bugs and heavily spined stick insects on the humid trails. Expect to be moved by the sheer scale of the unbroken ecology when the forest changes completely after dark.

The rainforest understorey is a working laboratory for invertebrate taxonomy. Looking between the massive buttress roots in the lowland forest near the Maliau Basin Studies Centre reveals ground that regularly yields new species. Researchers using leaf-litter extractors have formally described minute beetles like Dermatohomoeus maliauensis and Clavicornaltica sabahensis right beside the main access paths in the Biodiversity Data Journal.

The acidic blackwater streams higher up the escarpment host highly specialised aquatic communities. A 2018 citizen-science expedition to Giluk Falls at 900 metres surveyed the sandstone bottom rocks and found 3 riffle beetles entirely new to science including Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi, described in ZooKeys. The taxonomic journals publish new Bornean discoveries every year and a week on the trails puts you in the middle of this diversity.

The Maliau Basin alone covers 588 square kilometres of highly protected forest. The insect populations have evolved in an unbroken line for millions of years because these areas were never logged or cleared for agriculture. This means the species you find in the lowland dipterocarp forest often differ completely from those living on the higher heath plateaus.

The humid rainforest understory

The forest changes completely after dark and a guided night walk is the best way to see the invertebrate life. You meet animals that spend the daylight hours hidden under bark or high in the canopy. The high ambient humidity brings out predators and scavengers. You will see huntsman spiders resting on broad leaves and tarantulas waiting at the entrances to their ground burrows. The katydid diversity is immense and recent surveys have catalogued species like Cercoteratura reniforma and Pseudoteratura bifurcata across the reserves.

Amphibians also emerge at night. You might see the large-eyed litter frog Leptobrachium abbotti sitting quietly on the damp ground. Wallace's flying frog descends from the high canopy during heavy tropical downpours to mate near ephemeral muddy pools. The soundscape is dominated by cicadas and their deafening calls guide you to individuals resting on low branches. These are the hours when the rainforest floor is most active and a slow pace yields the best sightings. Keep your light sweeping the foliage right beside the trail and look for the tiny reflections of spider eyes.

Exterior camp lights

Borneo is a recognised global hotspot for Lepidoptera. High-intensity light trapping surveys show astonishing diversity across the state. Studies explicitly link the moth populations of the Maliau Basin to similar untouched hotspots in Danum Valley and the Trus Madi range. Entomologists have documented highly specialised behaviours in the deep forest. The crambid moth Arthroschista hilaralis engages in sweat-feeding on researchers. You can also find endemic species like Amata prepuncta and Aethalida borneana resting on foliage.

Night is the most productive time for invertebrate photography. Moonless nights following recent heavy rainfall trigger massive insect emergences. If you stay at a research station like the Danum Valley Study Centre, you can often find hundreds of moths drawn to the exterior camp lights before dawn.

Specific host tree trunks

Borneo is the undisputed epicentre of stick and leaf insects. The undisturbed canopy and the dense understorey support everything from heavily armoured ground-dwelling species to elaborate canopy mimics. You can find endemic stick insects like the heavily spined Haaniella echinata and the brilliantly coloured Calvisia sammannani in the lowland reserves. The related Haaniella erringtoniae is a Malay Peninsula species and does not occur here.

For travelling macro photographers, the lantern bugs are the ultimate subjects. These large sap-sucking planthoppers have elongated cephalic snouts and intricately patterned wings. The reserves support stunning species like Pyrops sultanus, Pyrops whiteheadi and Pyrops transversolineatus. They typically rest on the trunks of specific host trees in the lowland areas. They drill into the bark to feed and they exude honeydew. This sweet liquid then attracts complex communities of ants and wasps to the same tree trunk. Once a guide finds an active host tree, you can spend 1 hour photographing the interactions between the different insect groups.

Fallen timber and termite mounds

Ants and their relatives help researchers trace the region's evolutionary history. The deep-forest specialists are a major focus for visiting researchers. Recent taxonomic revisions of the cryptic predatory ant genus Hypoponera used genetic material from Sabah to map their history across Indochina and Borneo. Entomologists have also described new species of the trap-jaw ant genus Myopias from leaf litter samples collected at 270 metres elevation in the buffer zones.

Termites are equally vital. They break down fallen timber and process the massive volume of dead leaves that drop from the canopy. Their mounds are a common sight along the trails and they form the main prey base for mammals like the Malayan sun bear. Aquatic entomology is well represented too. Researchers have described caddisflies like Oecetis mesospina and Oecetis apelqvisti from light traps near Nepenthes Camp.

Working research stations

The research stations are excellent bases for exploring Borneo's insects. The Danum Valley Study Centre and the Maliau Basin Studies Centre offer comfortable rooms for a rainforest research station right on the edge of Class I Protection Forest Reserves. These stations provide immediate access to the primary rainforest trail grids.

If you want to survey different altitudinal zones, you can trek deeper into the Maliau Basin. The hike to Nepenthes Camp takes you from the lowland dipterocarp forest up to the lower montane and heath forests at 1,000 metres above sea level. This transition zone supports completely different insect communities. The Trus Madi range is another prime location for high-altitude endemics. Tell the team what groups you want to photograph and they will match you with a guide who knows the specific host trees and micro-habitats.

Diffused flashes and tripods

Taking macro photographs in a rainforest requires specific techniques. The humidity is permanent and the canopy intercepts most of the sunlight, leaving the understorey in deep shadow. You need a fast macro lens like a 100mm f/2.8 to isolate your subject against the chaotic forest background. When you photograph a highly reflective subject like Wallace's flying frog, you must use an off-camera heavily diffused flash unit. This illuminates the green skin and the yellow webbing without creating harsh specular highlights. Getting the required eye-level perspective often means kneeling directly in the mud.

A sturdy tripod is essential because the low light forces slow shutter speeds. If you are photographing butterflies like Rajah Brooke's birdwing puddling at a mineral seep, you should use a circular polarising filter. This cuts through the harsh glare bouncing off the wet river rocks and foliage.

The ethical constraints on invertebrate photography are absolute. Places like the Danum Valley Conservation Area and the Maliau Basin are strictly protected reserves. Collecting, netting or trapping any biological material without complex pre-approved scientific permits from Yayasan Sabah and the Sabah Biodiversity Council is a severe criminal offence. You must adhere strictly to a policy where you look but do not touch. Do not move an insect to a better leaf for a photograph. Use your tripod and take your time to photograph the animals exactly as you find them.

Conservation area permits

Everyone entering Danum Valley or the Maliau Basin does so on a conservation-area permit arranged with their stay. Travel and health insurance is advised for any visit to Danum Valley and cover that includes emergency evacuation is sensible in a place this remote. If you are coming for the invertebrates, tell the team which groups matter most and they will build the nights around them. Send your dates, your party size and your equipment details. The team will come back with a realistic itinerary and the right guides for your focus.

--- Sources referenced on this page: Yayasan Sabah, ZooKeys (2018), Biodiversity Data Journal (2017). Facts verified 9 September 2026.