Borneo’s forests may still be hiding bugs unknown to science

The tiny cricket found in Sabah’s Tangkulap Forest Reserve may represent a species new to science, though researchers still need to confirm its identity. (Le Monde pic) PETALING JAYA: It is tempting to think that, in 2026, scientists have already catalogued most of the creatures sharing the planet with us. Yet in the forests of Borneo, an insect small enough to disappear into leaf litter may still turn out to be something science has never formally recorded.

That possibility emerged during a recent 10-day expedition to Tangkulap Forest Reserve in Sabah, where an international team of entomologists went searching for crickets, grasshoppers, mantises, dragonflies and other insects.

According to a report by Le Monde , one of the more intriguing finds was a small, apparently mute cricket belonging to the genus Paranisitra. The insect may prove to be a new species - and, notably, the genus itself had not previously been recorded in Borneo.

For the scientists involved, that is the kind of moment that keeps fieldwork irresistible. French cricket specialist Tony Robillard, who led the expedition, was quoted as saying: “I think I’ve found something incredible.”

Tangkulap Forest Reserve covers more than 27,000ha in Sabah, providing the sort of dense tropical habitat where an extraordinary amount of life can remain hidden in plain sight.

Much of the expedition took place after dark, when headlamps replaced daylight and scientists combed through vegetation, tree roots and leaf litter for specimens. The work may sound rather less glamorous than spotting an orangutan or pygmy elephant, but insects make up an enormous part of tropical biodiversity.

They are also essential to how forests function. Insects pollinate plants, break down dead material, recycle nutrients and provide food for countless other animals; some are also useful indicators of the overall health of an ecosystem, a role highlighted by the Sabah forestry department during a tropical-insect workshop earlier this year.

Yet scientists believe only a fraction of the world’s insect species have been formally identified.

That leaves forests such as those in Sabah with an intriguing possibility: creatures that have been flying, crawling and chirping there for generations may still have no scientific name.

Finding one is only the beginning

Discovering an unusual insect in the forest does not immediately make it a new species. Researchers must compare specimens with known species, examine physical features and, increasingly, study their DNA before determining whether they have genuinely found something previously undescribed.

Spanning over 27,000ha, Sabah's Tangkulap Forest Reserve is home to rich tropical biodiversity - including insects that scientists are still working to identify and understand. (Sabah.gov pic) There is another complication. Some “new” insects may already be sitting unnoticed in museum collections, collected decades ago but never studied closely enough to be formally identified.

That makes modern taxonomy a curious mixture of adventure and painstaking detective work: part night-time jungle expedition, part laboratory analysis, and sometimes part rummage through drawers of specimens gathered long before the researchers were born.

Why naming tiny creatures matters

It might be tempting to wonder why identifying one more cricket matters in a forest already teeming with insects. The answer is that it is difficult to protect a species if nobody knows it exists.

Knowing what lives in a forest helps scientists understand how ecosystems fit together, which species are rare or restricted to particular habitats, and what may disappear when those habitats change.

That work is especially significant in a biodiversity-rich region such as Sabah, where forests continue to face pressure from land-use change and other human activity. Sabah still retains millions of hectares of forest reserve, with areas managed for conservation, research, wildlife protection and sustainable forestry.

The possible Paranisitra discovery has yet to be formally confirmed as a new species. But perhaps that uncertainty is part of its charm.

In one of the world’s most studied eras, Borneo can still offer scientists the thrill of lifting a leaf and finding something that makes them stop, look twice - and wonder whether anyone has ever described it before.