Discover Belitung · Natural Heritage

Butterflies
of Billiton

A forgotten collection from 1954 — butterflies preserved in the Billiton Museum and observations on the island's insect life recorded in Erts — Maandblad der Billiton Bedrijven.

Erts · 1954

A unique collection on Billiton

In 1954, Erts described two butterfly display cases in the Billiton Museum. The cases contained a unique collection of butterflies from Billiton, carefully prepared and arranged for exhibition. The magazine noted that tropical islands with favourable climate and rich vegetation can support a rich insect life, while also observing that relatively little was known about Billiton's butterflies.

The article connected this museum collection with a broader interest in the study and identification of butterflies in Indonesia. It also referred readers to earlier observations by H. Cardinaal about butterflies on Billiton.

Historical terminology
The wording and numerical estimates on this page are presented as information reported in the 1954 Erts material. They should be read as a historical record rather than a modern census of Belitung's butterfly fauna.

Colour interpretation

Butterflies in a tropical Billiton landscape

Colour brush illustration inspired by the 1954 Erts articles about butterflies of Billiton — Colour brush illustration inspired by the historical butterfly material in *Erts*, 1954. It is an artistic interpretation, not an original colour photograph and not a scientific identification plate.

Vlinders op Billiton

What H. Cardinaal recorded

Records from 1878

Cardinaal wrote that the Englishman N. N. Walter brought 33 butterfly species from Billiton to London in May 1878, where they were studied and described.

A much larger fauna

He stated that roughly 210 species of day-flying butterflies were known to him from the wider material he considered, and believed that the total occurring on Billiton could be higher.

Why numbers varied

Cardinaal suggested several factors that could reduce butterfly abundance locally: insect-eating birds, ladang cultivation and burning in the dry season, and predators such as spiders and flies.

Historical record

The photographs in Erts

The 1954 magazine reproduces two photographs, credited to Ton Blom, showing display cases filled with butterflies from Billiton. These black-and-white photographs are valuable because they document how the museum collection was presented at the time.

Rather than recolouring those archival photographs, Simpur Talang keeps them as historical evidence and uses the colour illustration above only as a visual interpretation of Billiton's butterfly theme.

Source: Erts — Maandblad der Billiton Bedrijven, 1954: “Vlinders van Billiton” and “Vlinders op Billiton” by H. Cardinaal. Historical butterfly display photographs credited in the magazine to Ton Blom.

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Additional historical source · 1951

Insects in the 1951 Landscape

Cardinaal’s overview mentions butterflies, beetles, mosquitoes and other insects. This provides an earlier historical context for the 1954 butterfly collection described above.