Borneo - Sabah, Sarawak

Dark Raptor · Feb 27, 2014

Two years ago I was able to realize the dream of my life. I spent a month in the rainforests of Borneo, hiking, eating, sleeping and taking pictures ... I put here a small part of my (and my wife's) work. We took more than 8,000 pictures with many, many animals and plants.

Oecophylla smaragdina

Hemithyrsocera sp.

Orisma ichneumon

Ground gecko, defensive position

Systella sp.

Rafflesia keithi

Oxyopidae

Unidentified toad

Batocera victoriana

Homo sapiens (me) and "small" spider web (there were also many times larger webs in the area, but the light wasn't good enough to take their pics).

persistent · Feb 27, 2014

Wow! Impressive pictures

Def a trip I'd like to do one day

Dark Raptor · Feb 27, 2014

Yes. This place is really worth to see. In the next 10-20 years, most of the Borneo rainforests will be destroyed.

More pictures...

Kinabalu National Park

Scutigera sp.

Dorcus sp.

Rhinocochlis nasuta

Flatidae bug

Unknown Salticidae

Mycetophagous Diplopoda

Rainforest from the air.

Heliconia sp.

Gasteracantha sp.

Spepper · Feb 27, 2014

That is one beautiful green snail! (And so is everything else!)

Dark Raptor · Feb 28, 2014

Spepper said:
That is one beautiful green snail! (And so is everything else!)

Thanks. I also found this, very rare green semi-slug. Described in 2008.

Ibycus rachelae

Gasteracantha arcuata

Unknown lizard

Crab

Haaniella grayii

Heterometrus sp.

Odontolabis sp.

Unknown mantis

Pseudochalcothea sp.

Sparassidae

tarcan · Feb 28, 2014

some wonderful shots, thank you for sharing!

Philth · Mar 1, 2014

Great stuff!

Later, Tom

syndicate · Mar 2, 2014

Very nice photos thanks for sharing!I really want to visit Borneo one day!!!
-Chris

jbm150 · Mar 2, 2014

Absolutely magnificent pictures, thank you so much for posting them! You're not just good at taking pictures, you're a great photographer. Hope to see much more!

Big B · Mar 2, 2014

Thanks for sharing and I am happy that you had a dream come true. =)
Awesome pictures!!

Dark Raptor · Mar 3, 2014

Thank you very much

I should mention, that many of these pictures were also taken by my wife (we are both biologists-photographers)

syndicate said:
Very nice photos thanks for sharing!I really want to visit Borneo one day!!!
-Chris

You have to hurry, rainforests of Borneo dissapear very quickly. This image doesn't need any comment: http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/diary...neo-1950-2005-and-projection-towards-2020.png

Ok, a bit more... I've got a lot of this stuff

Diastocera wallichii

Unknown shieldbug

Pycanum rubens nymph

Adult Pycanum rubens

Gecko

Glomeridae

Unknown jumping spider

Duliticola sp.

Probably Haplopelma doriae, male.

Camponotus gigas, probably the largest ant on Earth.

[Youtube]oZTPFBqputg[/Youtube]
And movie with that ant, recorded in Mulu National Park.

korg · Mar 4, 2014

Wow, great thread. Those Duliticola beetles are absolutely amazing.

Dark Raptor · Mar 5, 2014

Thanks

korg said:
Those Duliticola beetles are absolutely amazing.

Yes, this beetle was one of the main goals of this trip.

[Youtube]W0uLQiYpDLU[/Youtube]

Duliticola sp., with possible male of that species.

And few "backstage" and landscape pictures...

Taking pictures in the rainforest.

I felt like a kid in the candy shop

Mountain rainforest - Kinabalu National Park.

Lowland rainforest - Mulu National Park

And more animals...

Araneidae

Longhorn beetle taking off...

Probably Lampropelma sp. "Borneo Black"

Panesthia sp.

Another jumping spider.

The Snark · Mar 5, 2014

How the heck did you catch that beetle at take off?

Philth · Mar 5, 2014

Great stuff as usually, thanks for sharing. I suspect this is not a Lampropelma though. The tarsus and metatarsus seem to narrow, but pretty spider whatever it is.

Dark Raptor said:
Probably Lampropelma sp. "Borneo Black"

Dark Raptor · Mar 6, 2014

The Snark said:
How the heck did you catch that beetle at take off?

Longhorned beetles need few seconds to start. If you are lucky, you move your camera to get everything in DOF, press the shutter... et voila!
I took macro pictures in manual mode. With time set to 1/250s it is much easier to freeze insect movement. But I loved my old Nikon D70s with speedlight synchronisation at 1/500s. Shots like this one were also possible:

Philth said:
Great stuff as usually, thanks for sharing. I suspect this is not a Lampropelma though. The tarsus and metatarsus seem to narrow, but pretty spider whatever it is.

Thanks for the ID. My friend, more familiar with theraphosids, told me that this Lampropelma and Phormingochilus everetti are most common in Mulu area. Maybe it is something else.

More insects this time...

Nistrus sp.

Passalidae

Ceratocrania macra

Theodosia westwoodi

Pseudonemophas baluanus

Chrysosoma sp.

Sphingidae

Lyssa menoetius

My wife with Attacus atlas. These huuuuge moths were hitting our windows every night. For the first time, we thought that it was a bat.

Probably Pheidole ant queen.

oldmanofthesea · Mar 6, 2014

Thank you for the awesome photos of your trip. Ron

Dark Raptor · Mar 7, 2014

Thank you

Spiders are coming back...

Sparassidae

Gasteracantha

Unknown jumping spiders from Mulu and Kinabalu National Parks.

And two stick insects from Kinabalu

The Snark · Mar 7, 2014

Philth said:
Great stuff as usually, thanks for sharing. I suspect this is not a Lampropelma though. The tarsus and metatarsus seem to narrow, but pretty spider whatever it is.

To narrow or too narrow?

Philth · Mar 7, 2014

The Snark said:
To narrow or too narrow?

Sorry I meant two narrow. Great pics Dark Raptor, I'm loving this thread.

Later, Tom

Borneo - Sabah, Sarawak

Arachnoprince

Arachnopeon

Arachnoprince

Arachnodemon

Arachnoprince

Arachnoking

N.Y.H.C.

Arachnoemperor

Arachnoprince

Arachnoknight

Arachnoprince

Arachnobaron

Arachnoprince

Dumpster Fire of the Gods

N.Y.H.C.

Arachnoprince

Arachnoknight

Arachnoprince

Dumpster Fire of the Gods

N.Y.H.C.