KOTA KINABALU, Jan 1 — Botanical exploration in all manner of vegetation (especially exciting in the lush rainforests of Borneo!), specimen curation in safely kept scientific repositories and availability to research, and taxonomic diagnosis and research are the key factors in the advancement of biodiversity knowledge.
During a field work to the ultramafic forest of Bukit Tengkorak in the Meliau Range, Ulu Tungud Forest Reserve on November 3, 2024, Joel Dawat and Postar Miun of the Sandakan Herbarium, Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, collected a very rare tree, Chewlunia sabahensis, classified in the coffee-family (one of the most diverse tropical plant-families known).
The identification of the species was verified by Dr Chen Junhao of Singapore Botanic Gardens.
It was only recently (2023) described as a novel plant-genus in the Sabah Forestry Department’s journal of plant systematics, Sandakania no. 24, where it was first noted by the collection of the department’s doyen of field-collecting Leopold Madani in 1975, some 50 years ago!
The second collection was made from the same locality, Bukit Tengkorak in 2004, about 20 years ago.
The new genus was diagnosed after more than a decade of studies, authored by Dr Chen, Hoo Pui Kat (intern with Forest Research Centre Sepilok, who then obtained his M.Sc. at the University of Malaya and is now pursuing a Ph.D. at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) and Dr KM Wong (a colleague of Dr Chen who was also at Sepilok in the 1990s).
The new genus was named after Datuk Chan Chew Lun, a widely renowned publisher of natural history based in Sabah, himself a naturalist and historian of note.
Sabah’s Chief Conservator of Forests, Datuk Frederick Kugan, mentioned that this is such a nice demonstration in the unravelling of biodiversity complexities which can take some time, involving many skills from different areas of the process of biodiversity documentation.
With newer techniques, this will now facilitate the molecular characterisation of this and other plant taxa. Such rediscovery will enhance conservation efforts of the Sabah Forestry Department as the custodian of the state’s rainforests. — The Borneo Post
