Hunai fireflies Assesment Reccee 29 Dec 2009

It was a clear moon lit night we went out to Bekenu for leisure. I was bringing my two sons with my in-law and a niece. The night air temperature 28.5 degree centigrade. We reach Hunai Bridge and start scanning for display trees. The big Berembang tree I identified on the day did not produce any firefly. There is one tree somewhat a little inside the road into a house do have some fireflies. The count is about 20 individuals.

Tide high, moon 13th days and No Wind. warm night.
We went into Hunai Road Junction where the 3 Berembang trees I have marked. The one previously marked 433 do have fireflies display. The estimated count is about 150 individual. I cannot sample the fireflies due to high water, and we cannot reach the tree.

Then we go to Nusah expecting the Gurah tree is having any display. We reach the tree and were disappointed there is no display in this tree. I scanned the distance trees along the River but there is no display seen. We went in to Nosa River Junction and scanning all trees all along Nusah river. There are no fireflies Display.

We went out of Nusah disappointed. We reach the Manjelin Bridge and turn left to go along Manjelin road and cross Jangalas River. A single tree to the right as we enter the junction has a display of about 20 individuals. We went in and spotted a lone firefly.

We reach a dead end, and back track to where we came in.

I thought of stopping at Sewa and Bakam River but the moon light is bright. I decide not to stop.

When we reach Bakam area we enter the Bakam small distributaries where the school is. We stop at the bridge where people cross to go to a cemetery there.. I scaned the trees along the river and there is no fireflies seen. The night is bright with moonlight.

Another Reccee To Bekenu and Niah

On Saturday 26 December I just want to survey
Beringin trees or Gurah in Sibuti river. My inlaw, wife and two niece went along all small kampong I used to go before.



First I went to where Pak Samat said about a big tree at Hunai Junction. The Bridge cross Hunai River a small Distributary’s of Satap River. True enough there is a big berembang tree. That marked as 440 in my GPS

Then we went into Hunai junction. This road is following Hunai River. Then we saw 3 big Berembang trees. These tree marked 441,442 and 443 in my GPS.

Then we went along the Hunai road where the kampong is of the other side of the small river.

We did turn to the right going out to Danau Junction.

From Danau Junction we turn right to go back to Bekenu, and turn left into Nusah.

Nusah Floodgate.

Nusah is a small padi planting area where it used to flood. A floodgate at 448 is was build to irrigate the area. But somehow the land is not so suitable for padi because of salt water entering the area at high tide. Then the floodgate was abandoned. The floodgate was vandalised and no longer working. I have identified a Gurah tree marked at 447.

Gurah or Lurah tree


Gurah Fruit.

Gurah tree is locally called here as Lurah tree. Not far eh!. According to my In-law the fruit is used to poison fish by smashing them and draining the sap into small stream.
The bark of the tree is pounded and the sap is used to also poison fish. The pounded the bark is then dried use to make mosquito repellent like a mosquito coil.


I have identified an area with magenta where the road runs along Nosa River a small distributary’s of Satap River. This is an area where we could study Firefly with out boat. Just walking along the road. Can enjoy a night Firefly Display and photography with camera stand.

An Abandoned Floodgate Maintainance workers.


This is the end of the Track I made. This is called Kuala Nosa.

I was thinking of going back there at night but I was so tired because I went to Sepupok, Niah also to find out any potential of firefly Display.
According to my in-law brother Pak Bojeng, there are still plenty of fireflies along Sepupok, Niah River Distributary.


Nusah Padi Field.


Pak dollah and Pak Ali two of the Padi field owners.


Dry Padi Hut.


Another potential of 2 km Road along Majelin river.

ANNOUNCEMENT : Fireflies Related Training and Symposium

Following from the Conservation of Congregating Fireflies Zones (CFZ) in Malaysia, we are pleased to announce an upcoming specialist training and symposium on fireflies.

Training Course on Identification and Taxonomy of South East Asian Fireflies. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Selangor, 27–31st July 2010

In conjunction with the symposium, a course will be conducted on Identification andTaxonomy of South East Asian Fireflies. The course aims to train participants in therecognition, identification, taxonomy and systematics of South East Asian fireflies.

Who Should Attend?
The course is open to researchers, lecturers and graduate students whose research or career would benefit from knowledge of the taxonomy of fireflies. Applicants should have a basic knowledge of insect taxonomy and biology.

Applications are opened to a limited number of 20 participants. Selected candidates will be notified.

The Second International Firefly Symposium, 2–5th August 2010, Selangor

The 2nd International Firefly Symposium 2010 coincides with the 70th anniversaryof the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and the 25th anniversary of the ForestResearch Institute Malaysia (FRIM), the two organisers of the symposium.

For more details, please log on to http://www.ifs2010.frim.gov.my/

For more information on MNS involvement in firefly work in Malaysia, please contact Sonny Wong, Senior Conservation Officer, Conservation Division, MNS.

For firefly initiatives in Miri, please email Musa Musbah.

Kawang (Sibuti River) Firefly Recce

On the evening of 23rd Dec, 2009, I went to Kawang. It is a small kampong of around ten houses located right at the bank of Satap River, a small distributary of Sibuti River. This small river is lined up all along it's meander with palm trees and occasionally with Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris, Family Sonneratiaceae).


Berembang Tree.


Berembang fruit.


Berembang Pollen under Microscope.

I met Pak Samat, one of the villager. According to him, a firefly is called “Kelimpapat” in his local language. In their culture, villagers used to eat fireflies once every Thursday night for 40 consecutive weeks to acquire clear mind and heart. This is supposedly to aid the learning process and ease of knowledge acquisition.

When I told him that firefly is poisonous, he replied with "Yes, sure it is. It's the insect's 'poison' that makes the mind and heart clear".

According to Pak Samat, there are numerous display trees along this small river. He suggested that I go to the bridge where the old dam was located. "There are few good display trees there and some are even fruiting", he said.

Since I was not actually prepared to watch the fireflies, I cannot stay until dark. Knowing that some of the display trees can be accessed easily by road, I'l make a point to go back to Kawang Dam one of these days. An ideal nite would be when the moon is at it's darkest phase.

A First Firefly Recce in Miri

Article and pictures by Musa Musbah, MNS Miri, Dec 2009

The Night of 15 December 2009 a few of us decided to go on a short boat trip along Miri River to scan for firefly displays. We secured a large boat belonging to Pak Par. We chose a large boat because of the possibility of encountering crocodiles. Sg Miri has seen increased numbers of crocodile sightings recently. Strange enough, our boat was in the past actually used by Pak Par to catch crocodiles.

Fortunately for us and the crocodiles, we didn’t see any of the reptilians that nite. According to Pak Par, at high tide, all the crocodiles would be hiding up the riverbank. However he was confident that we would be seeing some firefly displays.

We used a small horse power engine to scour the river, in the boat were was my brother in-laws, son and nephew. We started off at 19:06. The moon was in its a last waning phase, which made the night very dark indeed. The day’s tide is almost at the highest level, there was no current movement in the river.
The first firefly colony was spotted at 19:19 as we entered into the first dark area of the river. The displays were high up on the tree branches. There was a reasonable population of probably 70 individuals displaying. We counted a total of 8 display trees formed by more or less the same number of individual fireflies.

Our boat took that particular moment to breakdown, the propeller pin broke. Without the engine we drifted slowly to Sg Dalam, a small tributary of Sg Miri.

At the junction we drifted to another display, this time on a low tree. We managed to catch some fireflies and put them into a plastic vial for later identification. While waiting for help to arrive, we watched firefly displays. We counted 5 trees nearby having fireflies display.

Shortly after, Pak Par came in a smaller boat with a new propeller pin. They took around 15 minutes to replace the pin.

We started the firefly recce again by entering Sungai Dalam proper. There we discovered 48 display trees, each with a firefly population of perhaps 11-15 individuals. These were counted using a night vision scope we brought along for the purpose. We carried on further until we found less and less display trees.

Unidentified Display Tree leaf

We came out of Sungai Dalam and move up Sg Miri in the direction of Dato’ Permaisuri Tomb.

From the junction to Sg Dalam upwards, we found a total of 15 display trees, two of these included displays on two huge Binjai trees. We saw less and less display trees as we got to the Bakun Hydro Power lines, at this point we turned back.

We saw few display trees on the way back. We reached Pak par jetty at approximately 22:50hrs.

My Fireflies Encounters

It was some 30 years ago that I first wandered into Miri River. It was just after my marriage and my father in-law, a Mirik, travelled often along the Miri River.

They have a pineapple farm at Sungai Maloi, a tributary of Miri River. On the weekends, I used to follow him by boat to the farm and we normally went home paddling to back home to Pujut Corner where the family home was.

We would paddle until the sun set and sometimes reached home around 10 o’clock at night. I could remember very well that both sides of the riverbanks were glittering with firefly’s light show. As my father in-law was superstitious person, he would remind us not to disturb the fireflies and to be content to just watch them and enjoy the show.

According to him, the trees that harbour fireflies have owners. By this he meant that meant they were “haunted”. It was enthralling to see them flickering in a group with a such perfect synchronicity.

Then too, sometimes at night we went out to catch prawns with homemade “serampang laut” along Pujut-Lutong section. The areas too were full of firefly displays, but this was some thirty years ago. On a recent fishing excursion along the same river, I have not noticed fireflies, perhaps I just wasn’t paying enough attention. I will go back to do proper survey.

Fifteen years ago, at the height of my prawn-fishing craze, I remembered travelling sections of Suai River, it used to be literally lit by firefly displays. We would drive to Kg Iran from Miri, which is about 130km away and would be at the water’s edge by midnight. We would then get on our perahu and paddled to the best prawn sites. All the way to these sites, congregating fireflies littered the riverbanks.

One evening, our boat engine broke down near Pasir Puteh some 15 km from Iran. We were forced to paddle our way up river to Iran. The riverbanks then were glittering with fireflies. It kept us buoyant and at ease as we made our strenuous way upstream along the river.

Sarawak Rivers were once flourishing with fresh water and healthy mangrove system. That in turn supports and sustains a diverse array of flora and fauna. Fireflies are once amongst this flourishing component of this ecosystem.

Recently I attended a Firefly Workshop organised by Malaysian Nature Society, Conservation Division with several key firefly experts from UNIMAS and MNS. The Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation (IBEC) hosted it and UNIMAS led by Dr Andrew Alek Tuan.

The workshop was supported by experts, among them entomologists Dr. Mahadimenakbar Mohamed Dawood of Universiti Malaysia Sabah; Wan Faridah Akmal Wan Jusoh of Universiti Putra Malaysia, and Sonny Wong, Senior Conservation Officer of the MNS Conservation Division.

It was really an eye opening workshop and proved to be a new learning high for me.

We went through a series of talks and slideshows by the experts at UNIMAS, this was followed by a fieldwork of first fireflies ever recorded in Sarawak at Sungai Buntal in Kuching.

The people of Kampong Buntal are aware of the importance of the fireflies and are supportive to this “Firefly Monitoring” project.

During a quick assessment session, we came across 90-display trees along each sides of the river. The total distance covered is about 10 kilometres. We discovered that there seemed to be two or more species of fireflies. This was identified by the different flashing patterns.

To positively identify a firefly, samples need to be captured. The specimens are then identified under a microscope. It’s possible that the identity of fireflies discovered that day were different than the ones originally catalogued.
Fireflies are actually beetles they are not fly. Entomologists better know them, as beetles in the family of Lampyridae.
Most known firefly species are bioluminescent as adults. Less known however, all known firefly larvae are bioluminescent, even their eggs. Fireflies are one of the indicator species of a river system. The presence fireflies indicate that the river is clean and supports a healthy mangrove system.

The life cycle of the firefly begins with the egg in the mangroves some 100 meters from the maximum tide level as this ensure the egg are not drowned during the high tide. The eggs hatch into a larvae and feed on tiny snails.

It takes 3–4 months for the larvae to pupate into an adult. The adults emerge from the pupa in moist grounds and fly to the display trees where they will attract a mate. They mate. The females then lay their eggs and thus the whole cycle of firefly life begins again.

Firefilies group together on a tree, this is called a congregating firefly. The tree is then known as a display tree. The most common display tree used by fireflies are the Berembang or mangrove apple, locally known as Buah Pedada (Sonneratia caseolaris), they also prefer a younger trees. Different species of fireflies have their own way of communicating to their specific species for mating, they have different flashing patterns.

Most rivers in Sarawak once supported huge Berembang trees population. However it was heavily harvested as a pilling for buildings and making local charcoal. For many years huge swath of mangrove swamps in Sarawak were destroyed in this way. Together with the mangroves, many fireflies’ congregations also destroyed in the process.

After this Fireflies Workshop, I pledge to back to the rivers where I used to see them for closer look at these fascinating little creatures.

High on the targeted list are rivers in Miri , Suai, Bekenu and Niah areas. These places used to be important prawns and fishing grounds.

I will endeavor to share the knowledge gained with the locals and impress on them the importance of fireflies and our river ecosystems.