Subject: Jewelled beetles  

      The country is researcher's delight,
      says expert

      BY JAMES FAHN

      THERE are immense opportunities for biodiversity
      research in Thailand, a Japanese researcher
      revealed yesterday, particularly for those interested
      in less popular creatures such as insects.

      An amateur expert in buprestid beetles, sometimes
      called ''jewel" beetles due to their metallic-looking
      shiny wings which shimmer in a variety of
      flamboyant colours, Sadahiro Ohmomo's rather
      cursory exploration of Thailand's insect world has
      already yielded the discovery of 30 new species.

      He estimates Thailand is home to another 200 to
      300 new buprestid beetles (maeng tap) just waiting
      to be found.

      Ohmomo's research in Thailand has been carried
      out over the last 10 years, but he has done it as a
      hobby ­ he is not a professional entomologist ­ and
      he has yet to even look for specimens in the forest.

      Rather, he often makes interesting finds in Thai
      markets, where beetles are often sold in display
      cases, as food or as jewellery. For instance,
      Ohmomo discovered one new species, the tiny
      polyctesis ohkurai, when he bought a sample of 100
      beetles from a villager in Chiang Mai for Bt10 each.

      Thailand is a relatively good place to look for new
      species, Ohmomo explained, because in Japan
      (and Western countries) there are many
      entomologists who have already studied local
      insects.

      In Thailand, there are only two scientists interested
      in buprestid beetles.

      Other countries in the region, such as Laos and
      Vietnam, have already been explored by European
      scientists, when they were colonies. But there are
      difficulties in identifying species found here,
      because the specimens to which they must be
      compared are mostly stored in European museums.

      Ohmomo was in Bangkok yesterday to take part in
      a press conference held by the National Science
      and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA),
      which introduced its Biodiversity Research and
      Training Programme.

      ''Thailand has a lot of biodiversity, but does little
      research," explained project director Visut Baimay.

      ''So we have set up this programme with the main
      goal of bringing together information about our
      biodiversity. There have been many foreigners who
      have come here to do research over the last 70 or
      80 years."

      Visut noted, as an example, that Kew Gardens in
      England has an extensive collection of plant
      species from Thailand. Although the specimens
      themselves cannot be sent back for fear they might
      fall apart, the information collected about them can
      easily be shared, he said.

      As part of the programme, Ohmomo provided the
      NSTDA with a series of papers he has written on
      buprestid beetles and other Thai insects. But Visut
      said that the NSTDA just serves as a coordinator for
      gathering such information. The actual work has to
      be carried out by other government agencies,
      mostly in the Ministry of Agriculture and
      Cooperatives.

      Ohmomo said that the beetles he collects in
      Thailand are mostly stored in Japan, but if he has
      extra specimens he sends some back to Thailand.
      The new species he discovers, however, are often
      quite rare and so he is only able to collect a few
      specimens.

      According to a book written by the Japanese
      scientist, there are about 20,000 species of
      buprestid beetles around the world, with the largest,
      megaloxantha bicolor assamensis, found in
      northern Thailand.

      The multi-hued insects are important to forest
      ecosystems because they eat dead wood, thus
      helping to turn dead trees into nutrients from which
      new trees can grow.

      But although the beetles are often sold as tourist
      trinkets or snacks, Ohmomo said there is little
      commercial value in researching the creatures.

      ''I just like to study them because they're beautiful,"
      he explained.