We intend that this small publication will motivate people to visit, describe, study and appreciate rainforests for their complexity, beauty and diversity and especially, for their butterflies. It is intended to show the amazing diversity of butterflies that were collected and identified in and round a basecamp in the Lesan River Protection rainforests of Berau, Kalimantan, Borneo as part of a biodiversity survey. We wish to promote tourism to the area and support the efforts of the Lesan Dayak community and the Operation Wallacea Trust to keep the remaining secondary lowland tropical forests, all that remains of the once mighty forests that covered the lowlands of Borneo. 2019 was a mass flowering year for the Dipterocarp trees and more than 100 butterfly species were collected and photographed (1500+ photographs) in 6 weeks in June-July by the students and staff of Operation Wallacea (Opwall.com). They represent about 10% of the butterfly species to be found in one of the most diverse areas of wildlife on Earth. This diversity is declining as the forest is destroyed, fragmented and completely removed to be replaced with farms, plantations and industry in a human landscape. Across the planet most of the lowland evergreen moist tropical rainforests have gone and with them the thousands and millions of species that were never known.
Butterflies of the Lesan River Protection Forest, Borneo
