If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Collecting beetles is enjoyable not only because of the adventure in the pursuit and the beauty that these insects display with their color and variety but more importantly, it is the satisfaction of contributing in broadening the knowledge of Philippine Coleoptera. Beetles are the biggest insect order in the world and, in the case of the Philippines, it is very much understudied.

Over the years, I have kept in touch with various entomologists and Coleoptera specialists and three names crop up in helping me make this important undertaking:

• Eduard Vives (Cerambycidae, several species)
• Charles Bellamy (Buprestidae, one species)
• Fabio Cassola (Cicindelidae, one species)

I’m very thankful for these gentlemen especially with Eduard who I’ve met twice. He has followed in the footsteps of the great entomologists who have studied Philippine Cerambycidae like Hudepohl, Breuning, Schultze, Heller, etc. What started as an inquiry a few years ago on specimens of Philippine Lepturinae that I have in the course of his study of this group in the Southeast Asian region has broadened into a keen interest with the other Cerambycid subfamilies.

Because of this collaborations, I have contributed to the discovery of several new species that are either published or awaiting publication as well as suspected to be new and are being studied. For now, these are about 20 species, and growing. For a complete list of these fascinating beetles, READ further.