Beetle specie rediscovered in Apayao after 111 years

Calanasan, Apayao – It took a century and an expedition in one of the least explored ecosystems in the country for the rediscovery of a beetle specie which was not seen since the early 1900s.

The Pseudocysts schadenbergi is a beetle specie first documented by KM Heller in 1912 through a specimen collected at Mt. Palimlim in the Province of Ilocos.

Said species, however, was not observed nor collected again until 111 years later in Barangay Tanglagan, Calanasan.

The Pseudapocyrtus schadenbergi was rediscovered on June 12, 2023, after a beetle expedition launched by a team of researchers and scientists from the Philippine Eagle Foundation, Davao Oriental State University, California Academy of Sciences, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera together with the Apayao and Calanasan government.

According to the paper written by Ma. Susana V. Legaspi et al. which was published in May 2024, this beetle expedition was made to gather evidence for the protection of the Apayao Lowland Forest Key Biodiversity Area.

“This expedition aimed to gather additional empirical species data to provide us with the much-needed evidence to justify the immediate protection of the unprotected forests of the Apayao Lowland Forest Key Biodiversity Area (KBA-4) and strengthen the bid to declare it as a biosphere reserve,” the paper reads.

Meantime, the two specimens of Pseudapocyrtus schadenbergi collected in the journey are currently deposited at the National Museum of Natural History under the National Museum of the Philippines and the California Academy of Sciences Entomology Collection.