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Constantijn Mennes / Naturalis
An atlas moth shows off its colors during the Sabah Parks / Naturalis expedition to Borneo.
A Dutch-Malaysian expedition to the remote "Heart of Borneo" have turned up more than 160 species previously unknown to science — and perhaps more importantly, enough DNA samples to figure out how more than 1,400 species in one of the world's hottest hot spots for biodiversity are related.
"It has been a successful expedition," the project's leader, Menno Schilthuizen of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, said in a news release from the center, based in the Dutch city of Leiden. Forty researchers from Naturalis and from Sabah Parks, a Malaysian conservation group, journeyed to Borneo's Mount Kinabalu last month to survey the area.
Scientists collected 3,500 DNA samples during the two-week expedition. Back in the lab, Naturalis' biologists will analyze the genetic code to generate family trees for all the collected plants, fungi and animals. A close look at the relationships among the novel species found on Kinabalu, compared with the wider spectrum of species throughout Borneo, could tell researchers whether Kinabalu's species evolved long ago or only recently.
"It's the first time that such an extensive expedition will go to Borneo with evolution as their main focus," Schilthuizen said. "We are following in the footsteps of Alfred Russel Wallace, who formulated a first version of the theory of evolution on Borneo."
Naturalis said spiders and fungi accounted for the largest numbers of new species found on Kinabalu. Other new species included true bugs, beetles, snails, stalk-eyed flies, damselflies, ferns, termites and possibly a frog.
The expedition came across an "El Dorado" for fungi, said József Geml, one of the researchers. "While the plant and animal life of this mountain has been the focus of numerous research projects, Kinabalu has remained terra incognita for scientific studies on fungi," Geml said. "It is difficult not to feel overwhelmed by this task. One of the manifestations of this diversity comes in the endless variety of shapes and colors that sometimes are truly breathtaking."
The researchers expect that the DNA studies will result in a scientific publication about evolution in the Heart of Borneo within a year. In the meantime, feast your eyes on these snapshots from the hot spot:
Joris van Alphen / Naturalis
The expedition to Borneo came across a long-nosed horned frog and other striking species.
Peter Koomen / Naturalis
Researchers came face to face with a jumping spider.
Joris van Alphen / Naturalis
Dutch botanist Frederic Lens collects samples during the expedition to Mount Kinabalu.
Luis Morgado / Naturalis
A striking mushroom known as Entoloma aff. purpurea was found at an altitude of 6,500 feet (2,000 meters).
Luis Morgado / Naturalis
Red mushrooms add a dash of extra color to the forest greenery in the "Heart of Borneo."
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- New Guinea's 'Lost World' revisited
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- Marine marvels from Papua New Guinea
- Biological treasures from Borneo
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- More strange species from Suriname
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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Beautiful. What an amazing world we have. Hopefully, we do not end up destroying it along with ourselves.
Dissecting Borneo Frogs, Moths, and Spiders in the lab shows small amounts of Chromium in their outer skin that helps ward off disease causing fungi.
That's the most interesting thing I've read all day. Thank you, Dr. Emptimy.
Ummm. Pay no attention to the good "Dr.". I think he's been partaking of too much chromium-infused tea leaves, lately.
I just want to build a wall around it all to protect it. A wall so to speak. Truly awesome things they are finding.
That "Jumping Spider" scares the hell out of me.
A hilarious read is, "Spiders are Scary, It's OK to be Afraid of Them" on the blog Hyperbole and a Half.
That "Jumping Spider" scares the beejeebies out of me.
MORE new species? But, but the doom and gloomers keep saying everything is dying and going extinct.
But they never produce any proof or list.
It took me 3 seconds to find extinction lists on Google. Give it a try.
It's a wild wild world .
Looks like the normal horned frogs I saw in Danum Valley...not sure it qualifies as a new species. But all frogs are neat.
I was born and raised in Borneo, live now in the West but return to visit family often. It is heartbreaking to see how much of the primary Bornean jungles has been destroyed, due to the increased pace and efficacy of the logging industry in employing heavy machinery to make roads and hew down huge swaths of trees in areas previously inaccessible to loggers. There are government regulations, however, big timber tycoons have a lot of clout. Also, illegal logging takes its toll. In addition, recent decades have seen large tracts of land being cleared by corporations to make way for oil palm plantations to satisfy the worldwide demand for a main ingredient in making margarine, baked goods, soaps, shampoos, moisturizers, etc.
economykiller - we are not doom and gloomers. Species are dying out everyday, including some that mankind will never know even existed - how sad is that? Perhaps that is a little hard to believe if one is talking about plants, animals and insects that live and die in the jungles without any human knowledge. But what about big animal like the orang-utans - so like us - who are truly struggling to survive in Borneo and Sumatra due to encroachment on their habitats? If you get a chance to visit orang-utans in a zoo, look into their eyes: lifeless and so sad. These apes are mourning the destruction of their homeland and fearing for the survival of their kind. Someday soon, we may not even see an orang-utan specimen in captivity.
I'm glad they found lots of new creepy crawlers, they are God's beasts too after all.
YET, I'd be glad to trade a few of them to save higher mammals like: Elephants, Rhinos, Tigers, etc....
You can't save the "higher" animals without saving their environments, and that means knowing and saving all those little things you are more likely to step on. Besides which, you never know what is in those areas if you don't look. A lot of good research can be made from the frogs, spiders, fungi, and other little things that are usually overlooked. And a lot of this research may very well have implications for medicine and chemistry, that could help better mankind (drugs, dyes, antimicrobials, etc.). But too often, we're focused so much on the higher-profile animals or trying to make a fast buck or two, that we ignore the gold mine right under our feet (literally).
Good points Brisaber. In absolute I agree with you. I do question bettering Mankind though. Can helping mankind chemically and medically really better it? shouldn't mankind better itself and save his environments instead of the environment better it. Hasn't the environment given enough so far? I'm afraid mankind is fairly out of self control already, almost globally in one way or another.