The insects of Papua Indonesia

Taxonomic and faunistic overviews on the insect species living in Indonesian New Guinea

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Visit to Papua, Indonesia, in October 2026

Introduction

A group of ten people, mainly volunteers from the butterfly collection at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, visited the Koleksi Entomologi Papua (KSP) in Waena, Papua, Indonesia, on behalf of the Papua Insects Foundation (PIF). Their visit was motivated by an interest in the collection and the region, but above all by the aim of preparing 600 new drawers for use in the KSP collection. After completing this work, the group enjoyed a holiday, visiting, among other places, Manokwari and the Arfak Mountains.

The group

The diverse group was led by PIF chairman Rob de Vos and consisted of volunteers Kees Reitsma, Cilka Maas, Bert Polling and Esther de Korte; Naturalis staff member Hendri van Witteloostuijn; fellow travellers Annette Kijne and Leo van der Sluijs; and finally, the chairman's daughter and son-in-law, Raanya Deniz-De Vos and Yunus Deniz.
Annette Kijne and Leo van der Sluijs also had a more personal mission: they were making the journey on behalf of Maartje Kijne, Annette's sister and Leo's wife, who sadly passed away from cancer several years ago. Maartje had wished to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, missionary Isaac Samuel Kijne. She wanted to visit places associated with his work, such as the school and church in Abepura that he founded, as well as his statue in Manokwari and on Mansinam Island.

The purpose of the trip

Apart from enjoying a holiday and exploring the natural surroundings, the main objective of the visit was to prepare 600 new drawers for the KSP collection. These drawers had been purchased thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign.
The campaign raised an impressive €15,000, for which PIF is extremely grateful to all the many donors who contributed! The drawers were sustainably manufactured by a local furniture maker in Sentani using locally sourced Lingua wood.
Preparing the drawers for use involved fitting them with pinning boards (styrofoam), handles and label holders. The team worked in pairs, each with its own specific task.
Hendri and Bert took care of replacing the old drawer-number labels on the existing large drawers in the collection. Many of the original labels had become detached, so fresh, new labels were needed. Later, they also attached label holders to the front of the new drawers.
Kees and Cilka were responsible for drilling the holes for the handles and screwing them into place. Esther concentrated on cutting the pinning boards to the correct size, while Annette and Leo glued the boards into the drawers.
Around twenty drawers will have to be returned to the furniture maker for adjustments, as they fit too tightly into the supplied cabinets. Unfortunately, the glass of one drawer was also found to be cracked.
After a week and a half, the job was completed, and everyone could look back with satisfaction on what had been achieved.

MoU and the new museum

Our counterpart, Mrs. Daawia Suhartawan, acted as our main contact for official matters at Universitas Cenderawasih (UNCEN) and arranged meetings with university staff.
During the first weeks, we also paid a visit to UNCEN's interim Rector, Dr. Ferdinand Risamasu. He approved the plans for the new museum and laboratory to house the KSP collection. According to the current schedule, construction of the museum is expected to begin in early 2027.

It has been proposed that the laboratory within the new building be named after the recently deceased Rector, Dr. Oscar Wambrau, who was a strong supporter of the museum project and actively involved in developing the plans. The museum section of the building will be named after Br. Henk van Mastrigt, who built up the KSP collection during the forty years he lived in Papua.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PIF and UNCEN was due for renewal, with a number of details also requiring revision. The new MoU was signed during an official ceremony and will remain valid for the next five years.
One major advantage of this cooperation is that the Indonesian partner, UNCEN, will take responsibility for obtaining the necessary research permits (BRIN) and handling the associated paperwork for future collaborative projects.

Manokwari and a visit to UNIPA

After the hard work during the first half of the trip, the group could relax and enjoy a holiday during the second half. We flew to Manokwari, in Papua Barat (West Papua).
Our first stop was Universitas Papua (UNIPA) in Manokwari, where Mrs. Rawati Panjaitan was our contact person. We also held discussions with the Dean, Markus Heryanto Langsa, PhD, about establishing an MoU between PIF and UNIPA.
The MoU still needs to be drafted, but there are no major obstacles expected. As with UNCEN, this cooperation will mean that, in future research projects conducted jointly by PIF and UNIPA, the Indonesian partner (UNIPA) will take care of the necessary permits and documentation.

Other activities

The original plan was to visit the Bird Watching Center in Kwau, in the Arfak Mountains. Unfortunately, the father of the centre's manager had just passed away, making a visit to Kwau impossible.
Fortunately, Rawati came up with an alternative: accommodation in the village of Minyambouw, not far from Kwau and Mokwam.
However, the village turned out to be less suitable for spotting birds-of-paradise and moths. It is primarily an agricultural village, surrounded by steep mountain slopes and largely inaccessible natural areas. As a result, the originally planned five-day stay was shortened to three days.
We spent the remaining days in Manokwari and also visited Mansinam Island, where Isaac Samuel Kijne had once begun his missionary work. The beautiful, deserted tropical beach on Mansinam came as a very welcome surprise and proved to be a delightful addition to our travel programme.

Nimbokrang

Back in Waena, Papua, the group still had one more destination to visit: the Birdwatching Resort in Nimbokrang.
PIF paid tribute to the resort's manager, Alex Waisimon, in recognition of his outstanding work in ecotourism and nature conservation. A new moth species previously discovered in Nimbokrang had been named after him: Orieosia waisimoni. PIF presented Alex with the official scientific publication describing the species, together with a poster featuring moths from Nimbokrang.
He was clearly honoured by this recognition.
Daawia added that, during an official meeting of the Papua Parliament, it had been decided to support initiatives of this kind through subsidies and public relations activities. PIF's gesture of naming a new species after Alex was therefore greatly appreciated by the parliament.

As it happened, Dr. Marc Argeloo, an ecologist, natural historian and keen birdwatcher, was also staying in Nimbokrang. As an ambassador for the HAPIN Foundation, he draws attention to Papua's vulnerable ecosystems, including its forests, coral reefs and mountain ranges, and to the impact of deforestation on local communities.
Marc and his wife joined us during our visit, and there may well be opportunities for future cooperation between HAPIN and PIF.
The group spent three days in Nimbokrang and, under Alex's excellent guidance, managed to see no fewer than three different species of birds-of-paradise.
We also visited the forest near Yowong, close to the border with Papua New Guinea. Although the region had experienced a prolonged dry spell, we still encountered flowering plants and insects. Hearing the call of the Lesser Bird-of-paradise (Cenderawasih) was another particularly welcome highlight of the visit.

NEW DRAWERS FOR THE KSP COLLECTION IN PAPUA - WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!

The dream of building the Henk van Mastrigt Biodiversity Center in Waena, Papua, Indonesia, is coming closer to reality. This future center will house vital research, a presentation and exhibition space, and a proper collection depot to protect the extraordinary insect diversity of Papua.

But before we break ground, we urgently need your help.

The existing drawers used to store the KSP insect collection are outdated, heavy, and no longer safe for the specimens. They don’t close tightly, the pin-bottoms are too hard, and they require chemical preservatives like naphthalene—creating both an unhealthy smell and health hazards for those working with the collection.

We want to replace these with modern, safe, and sustainable drawers—based on the standards of Naturalis Biodiversity Center. These new 40x50 cm drawers feature tightly closing lids and soft foam bottoms, eliminating the need for toxic preservatives. With proper air conditioning, these drawers will protect the collection for generations to come.

We need 1,000 new drawers—stored in 100 cabinets (10 drawers each, stacked two high).
Total cost: €25,000.
This includes drawers, knobs, label frames, and cabinets.

How can you help?

We’re launching this fundraiser to reach that €25,000 goal, and we are reaching out to you—our friends, colleagues, and fellow nature lovers.
• Do you have ideas for fundraising or access to potential funding sources?
• Are you willing to contribute or spread the word?

Every suggestion and donation, big or small, brings us closer to our goal.

Donations can be made through:

Bank Transfer
Papua Insects Foundation
IBAN: NL10 INGB 0673 660 087
BIC: INGBNL2A
Bank: ING, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

You can also pay by PayPal using code: monicac@indiummail.com

Together, we can give Papua’s incredible insect diversity the care and protection it deserves. Thank you so much for your support—we can’t do it without you.

The KSP comprises many type specimens and other unique specimens, some even from species still undescribed by science. The collection is the most crucial tool scientists have to chart biodiversity, monitor populations and help designing protection policies. Despite its scientific importance, it remains very difficult to reach for many scientists and students worldwide. To make it accessible, The Papua Insects Foundation (PIF) has started a digitization project based on UNCEN. Digitized information and photographs will be put on line with open access (some exceptions for undescribed species in progress of publication).

For more information, please contact chairman Rob de Vos.

On behalf of the members of KEP and biology students of UNCEN and PIF,
Thank you very much for your help!

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The latest volume of SUGAPA digital

SUGAPA digital 16(2) is online: www.sugapa.org

 

 

 

 

SUGAPA digital 16(2) (2025) contains the following publications:

- Nicolas Grimaldi & Olivier Pequin - Description of the female of Delias flavissima Orr & Sibatani, 1985 (Lepidoptera: Pieridae, Pierinae)

- Rob de Vos - Lichen moth Tampea accepta (Butler, 1877) also found on New Guinea (Lepidoptera: Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini)

- Josef Tumbrinck & Hannah Emde - Two new species of the genus Scelimena Serville, 1838 (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae) from the islands of Biak and Waigeo, Indonesia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Join the "Friends of The Papua Insects foundation"

The board of the PIF is very pleased to announce the birth of the group “Friends of the Papua Insects Foundation”. This is a special group for those willing to support the work of the Papua Insects Foundation and in particular, the journal Suara Serangga Papua (SUGAPA), “the Voice of Papua Insects”.
SUGAPA is a journal devoted to the insect fauna of Indonesian New Guinea (provinces Papua and Papua Barat). The journal includes news, observations, description of new species, taxonomic revisions and results from fieldwork. From 2006 and until 2016, SUGAPA appeared twice annually, in print, under the direction of Kelompok Entomologi Papua (KEP). Brother Henk van Mastrigt was the chief editor of SUGAPA. The journal was financed by a few supporting foundations, companies and subscribers. After Henk’s passing in August 2015, the publication of SUGAPA ended because it was impossible to find a successor for him in a short time.

PIF recognizes the importance of this journal, both for the local biology students and for the broader entomological community. For this reason, we created in 2016 a new SUGAPA series, now online. Together with KEP, we formed a new editorial board. The first online volume was published in July 2016. The new SUGAPA digital is free and allows open online access to its articles. New issues are freely accessible from the website, while digital versions of the articles published in print before 2016 are now made available too.

The new SUGAPA digital, with all its advantages, needs financial support. Not only for the costs of the website domain, but also to guarantee its scientific status. Online taxonomic publications need to be registered in ZooBank, the Official Registry of Zoological Nomenclature. ZooBank registers new nomenclatural acts, published works, and authors to ensure the validity and stability of zoological names. This action is free of costs, however, each register of digital publications (DOI) requires payment. As PIF is a non-profit organisation, external financial support is very necessary and warmly welcome. For this reason, the board of the Papua Insects Foundation has created the “Friends of the Papua Insects Foundation”. You are cordially invited to join us!

You can become a “Friend of the Papua Insects Foundation” by donating annually the amount of (at least) €20.
Your donation is greatly appreciated and will be used to ensure the continuation of SUGAPA digital, the platform for future entomological research for PIF and for local biology students.

As a Friend of PIF, you will enjoy privileges:
- your “friendship” will be mentioned on the website (unless you indicate you don’t want to)
- being first informed about the release of a new issue of SUGAPA digital
- first-hand information regarding the ongoing fieldwork
- you will be first to receive the new newsletters on the activities of PIF and KEP
- you will get discount on publications made by KEP and PIF (i.e. the Kupu-Kupu series)
- you are entitled to have a VIP visit to an annual meeting on Papua insects which will be held in Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands (more details about this will follow)
- there will be a possibility to have your name monumentalized by the description of a new Papuan insect species. For details about this you can contact us

Register your “Friend of Papua Insects Foundation” by email to our secretary and transfer your donation under the specification “Friend of PIF” to:
Papua Insects Foundation
IBAN NL 10 INGB 0673660087
BIC code INGBNL2A
Amsterdam
The Netherlands

You can also pay by PayPal using code: monicac@indiummail.com

For Dutch “Friends of Papua Insects Foundation” it may be interesting to know that the Papua Insects Foundation is an ANBI institution (tax nr. 8158.33.039), which means that your donation may be included in tax deductions every year at a rate of 1.25 times your donation (so € 20 is deductible for € 25)!

 

 

 

 

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Introduction about this website

The need for information about fauna and flora has increased since people are aware that nature is changing very rapidly in the last decades. Polution, global warming and destruction of natural environment are the topics of the world these days.

Scientists research the causes and effects of changes in climate and biodiversity. One of the essential tools for this kind of research is information about the occurrance (faunistics) of plant and animal species in certain areas. For this it is extremely important to have accurate information, checklists of correctly identificated species and when available ecological information. Especially on tropical insects this kind of information is hard to find or it takes loads of time and effort to gather the literature provided. For some it may even be impossible to consult the necessary literature or to visit relevant museum collections. In many cases it may even be necessary to undertake new expeditions to poorly visited or even unexplored areas.

collecting at light in Borme, Star Mountains (Papua, Indonesia) (Photo: Henk van Mastrigt)

Aims

As part of the Papua Insects Foundation, the aim of this website is to provide organisations, scientist, students, museums and everyone interested, with actual information on the taxonomics and faunistics of the insect fauna of Papua. This includes checklists with the latest nomenclatorial views, pictures of the species, distribution maps (compiled from information as far as known from literature and collections) and a list with relevant literature. If available we will also give information and photographs of the types.

Very important is to distinguish so called biodiversity hotspots, places or areas where the entomological fauna is of a very high richness and is therefore of great importance to nature conservation. In order to actually recognize these hotspots it is necessary to inventorise the insect fauna and have knowledge about the existance and identity of the species. The Papua Insect Foundation can be of help in this matter.

However, information of some insects orders or families may not always be complete, due to uncertainties or simply because no (recent) work on these taxa is done yet. On the other hand, the taxa which are represented in detail on this website are recently thoroughly revised or studied and the information given is scientifically certified or at least expected to be so. The contributors to this website themselves are scientists or are in contact with specialists all over the world.

• One of the most urgent job's is to generate checklists of the families and present known species. This can be done by recording relevant literature and collections. The information derived from literature must be trustworthy and will be checked, if possible, by still existing material and photographs. Collection information should be correctly identified or will be reidentified by the specialists.
• The intention is to give a picture of all species, adults and if possible also immature stages.
• A distribution map of the species is given for Papua Indonesia, together with information of its external distribution.
• If known, biological and ecological information is given for the species, together with pictures of the biotopes.
• New discovered species will be described in scientific magazines and only be added to the checklists when published.
• Additional research and inventories are needed to complete the distribution maps and the knowledge of the biology and ecology of the Papuan insects and the existance of biodiversity hotspots. Fund raising will be an essential activity to make it possible for local students and entomologists to investigate explored and unexplored areas of the immense forests and mountain ranges of Papua Indonesia. These funds are also necessary to finance publications and other expenses.

 

 

On survey in primary forest near Warkapi (Arfak Mountains)

(Photo: Siep Sinnema, 2011)

 

 

 

Why Papua only?

New Guinea is the second largest island in the world (Greenland is the largest). It is also one of the richest islands for what biodiversity is concerned. Its tropical climate and fortunately still largely (70%) with forest covered surface gives animals and plants the opportunity to flourish in an almost unlimited way. Its biogeographic history is very complex and resulted in strange habitats from an even stranger origin. Its floral and faunal character is much different of that of adjacent areas in the region. For instance, in the west the Moluccas may have an overlap of species with New Guinea, but for the greater part it differs significantly and forms the border between the Sundanian and Wallacian regions on one side and the Australian faunal regions on the other side. In the south and southeast the faunal characters are similar in Queensland (Australia), the Solomon Islands and Fiji, but New Guinea inhabits loads of endemic fauna elements. There have been many natural historic expeditions in New Guinea but most of them were in the eastern part, at present Papua New Guinea. The majority of faunistic information from New Guinea consequently deals with this area. Because of the fact that the western part, Papua (Indonesia), is underexplored and because the geological history of this area for a greater part differs from the eastern area, which also resulted in different flora and thus fauna, it is about time that this interesting part of New Guinea is mapped. Of course, there is already information about the western part of New Guinea available, but it is scattered in literature and hidden in (museum) collections. It is one of our jobs to collect these data and to make this information available to the public.

History

In the 19th and early 20th century the island of New Guinea was colonized by three nations: the Dutch in the west (Dutch New Guinea), the Germans in the northeast (Kaiser Wilhelms Land) and the British in the southeast (British New Guinea). At 1848 the border of Dutch New Guinea is layed down at 141º Eastern Length by the government of the Dutch Indies. It was officially determined in 1895 and is until present day the unchanged border of Papua with Papua New Guinea. In 1963 the area was handed over to UNTEA and finally to the Republic of Indonesia and was called Irian Barat (West Irian), from 1973 Irian Jaya (= "Ikut Republik Indonesia, Anti Nederland", which means "Follow the Republik Indonesia, reject The Netherlands", "Jaya" means "glorious") and from October 2001 Papua (or Papua Indonesia, to avoid confusion). In 2003 there was an attemption to divide Papua in three subprovinces (Papua Barat, Papua Tengah and Papua Timur) but because of many protests it was decided to divide Papua in 2007 in only two main provinces: Papua Barat (West Papua) and Papua. On 30 June 2022 the government decided to devide Indonesian New Guinea in five provinces (see map): Tito Karnavian, Indonesia's Home Affairs Minister, said after the vote that the primary goal of the legislation was "to accelerate development in Papua to increase the welfare of the people in Papua, especially indigenous Papuans." In this website we only use the name Papua or Papua Indonesia, meaning all five provinces together.

The most recent mapping of provinces in Indonesian New Guinea (June 2022 >)

Because in the 19th and early 20th century most naturalists were either German or British it is obvious that the colonies in the east of New Guinea were visited more frequently by scientists than the Dutch western part of the island. Furthermore Dutch scientists hardly showed any interest in this part of their colony. After Dutch New Guinea was handed over to UNTEA and Indonesia in 1963, hardly any expedition or collection trip was held in this part until the Eighties of the last century. Nevertheless, their have been some important expeditions in the western part. An overview of these expeditions is given on the history page of this website.

Published information about insects of New Guinea is mostly restricted to the eastern side of this large island, Papua New Guinea (PNG). A magnifiscent piece of work is done by Michael Parsons in "The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea" (1999) about the butterflies of New Guinea, with PNG in particular. For moths such a comprehensive work does not exist, let alone about other insect orders, although there are many publications scattered in various scientific magazines. One of the aims of The Papua Insect Foundation is to gather all this information and to make it available, for instance on this website.

No comprehensive overview on the insect fauna of Papua exist yet. But recently, Henk van Mastrigt (2005) published a guide of the butterflies of the northeastern part of Papua Indonesia: Kupu-kupu ("butterflies") and another in 2010 on the butterflies of Papua Barat, the Birdshead Peninsula. It may be the start of a series on this more or less "forgotten" part of New Guinea.

 

Additional information

If you are interested in more detailed information than presented here, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you have additional information about some taxa, please let us know or join us and contribute to this website. A list of participating specialists is given in contributors.

You will find a list of the collections and museums from which information and photographs are obtained and used for this website with their permission.

 

Follow us

You can join us on and regularly there will be news on the website. Including interviews with the very interesting members on the survey.
On the 20th of September a live connection is made with LiveScience in Naturalis Biodiversity Center with an opportunity for the public to ask questions.
You can join as a ‘Friend of the Papua Insects Foundation’ to make the preservation of the collection in Papua possible.

 

 

Last update on 14th June 2026