A History of Animal Diversity of the Bau Limestone Area

Three levels of historical record of animal diversity are considered. Earliest is the evidence of the fossils of the marine fauna of the shallow Jurassic/Cretaceous seas in which the Bau limestones were originally deposited. Second is evidence of regional Pleistocene animal diversity, both through fossils and by inference from present biogeography. Thirdly, the evidence from the historical period, through published writings and collected specimens. Fortunately, from the earliest time of Rajah James Brooke (i.e., 1840) the Bau Limestone Area was visited by a succession of notable naturalists who left museum specimens and written records of their discoveries. Among these, A.R. Wallace’s collections in early 1856 have established Serambu Hill as an entomological type locality of world importance. Material from excavations by A.H. Everett in 1878 has been re-examined in 2003, and potentially identifies the eastern mouth of the large cave in Bukit Bak, Jambusan, as a significant palaeontological site.