SEAVR 2019: 056‐059
ISSN: 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 26 April 2019
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

Bornean Banded Langur Presbytis chrysomelas cruciger
in Danau Sentarum National Park, West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Mohamad Arif RIFQI, Tulus PAMBUDI, Muhammad KHOTIEM & Asri Ali GESSHAA
arifqbio2@gmail.com (Rifqi)

Observers: Mohamad Arif Rifqi, Muhammad Khotiem, Jemmy Christian, Ismail Adha, Superi Saputra.
Photographs by: Ismail Adha, Superi Saputra, Jemmy Christian.
Subjects identified by: Mohamad Arif Rifqi.
Location: Melemba, Teluk Aur and Jongkong Kiri Hilir villages, Danau Sentarum, Kapuas Hulu District, WestKalimantan, Indonesia.
Elevation: 80‐400 metres asl.
Habitat: Mixed lowland forest: mostly peatland forest, with a few areas of dry‐land forest.
Date and time: May 2016 to April 2018, daytime.
Identity of subjects: Bornean Banded Langur (Sarawak Langur, [Eastern] Cross‐marked Langur),
Presbytis chrysomelas cruciger (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae).
Description of records: A total of 27 images were captured by DSLR cameras of 4 fully arboreal groups of P. c.
cruciger both inside and outside the Danau Sentarum National Park (DSNP) during a biodiversity study of the parkand buffer areas by the Indonesian Orangutan Forum (FORINA) team, WWF Indonesia team and DSNP Staff. Groupsize was between 8 and 15 individuals.

Fig. 1 Image from the buffer of DSNP. Dated 18 February 2017, 07:59 hrs. © Ismail Adha56

Fig. 2. Image from Pelaik River, in the buffer of DSNP.
Dated 15 May 2016, 13:43 hrs. © Superi Saputra

Fig. 3. Image from Semujan Hill. Dated 20 April 2018,
15:50 hrs. ©DSNP

Fig. 4. Group of P. c. cruciger near the Pelaik River, close to Melemba village. Dated 14 November 2016, 16:47
hrs. © Jemmy Christian.

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Remarks: Presbytis chrysomelas is a primate endemic to the island of Borneo. It has the one of the smallest
distribution range of any langur on the island and is only known from the northern part of Borneo, including coastal
Sarawak (Malaysia), Brunei Darussalam and the Danau Sentarum, Kapuas Hulu District of West Kalimantan,
Indonesia (Bennett, 1992). The IUCN Red List categorizes this species as Critically Endangered.
Previously, this species was regarded as a sub‐species of Presbytis melalophos (Raffles, 1821) which occurs on theisland of Sumatra (Oates et al, 1994; Md‐Zain, 2001). Subsequently, it was classified as Presbytis chrysomelas, basedon morphological (Groves, 2001) and molecular data (Vun et al, 2011). Typically, this species is divided into twosubspecies, namely the Western Cross‐marked Langur P. c. chrysomelas (Müller, 1838) and the Eastern Cross‐marked Langur P. c. cruciger (Thomas, 1892). In addition, a third, highly localized subspecies may be present insoutheastern Sarawak (Groves, 2001). However, Phillipps and Phillipps (2016) points out that historical reports of
mixed troops of both subspecies indicates that the variation should be regarded as colour morphs rather thansubspecies. (Local communities in and around DSNP sometimes refer to these langurs as Maroon Langur (Presbytisrubicunda), and in their local tongue they call it ‘Bekak’, however these images clearly show P. c. cruciger to bepresent.)
Locally these langurs have variations of three bright colours; there is red‐orange hair on the head and shoulders,sides of the abdomen, thigh and calf; the hair on the cheeks and under the chest and abdomen is white; and thearms, hands, feet, and lines on the back, which extend to the tail are black. The subspecies P. c. chrysomelas only
has variations in the amount of black and white hair on the body.
The reported distribution for P. c. chrysomelas is coastal Sarawak, Brunei Darussalam, and upstream parts of theKapuas River in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. P. c. cruciger is distributed in the forest of north Sarawak and Sabah(Roos et al., 2014; Nijman et al., 2008). *See Editor’s note (below).
These new records confirm the continued presence of P. c. cruciger in the Danau Sentarum National Park and its
buffer zone, in the upper and middle parts of the Kapuas River basin in West Kalimantan. DSNP lies within thehistoric range of P. chrysomelas (Phillipps & Phillipps, 2016, map on page 170). The characteristics of the P. c.
cruciger morph that we recorded in these photos are similar to those illustrated by Roos et al (2014) and Phillipps& Phillipps (2016).
Previously, Pusparini (2012) reported 26 individuals in Pulau Majang village, at the western edge of Danau
Sentarum NP. According to Ampeng and Md‐Zain (2012) this primate forages between the mid‐canopy to the uppercanopy, at a height of 3‐8 meters. Male leaders are usually in the bottom of the canopy, while female leaders
monitor the upper canopy.
The continued existence and interconnection of a tree canopy is highly important to maintain habitat viability ofthis species. A 2014 study showed that even disturbed forest areas should still be considered suitable habitat forseveral primate species, compared to forested areas that have been converted into monoculture plantations(Bernard et al., 2014).
The continued existence of this primate in or near DSNP is not widely known and represents a very significant
addition to the current highly threatened population in Sarawak justifying a possible reevaluation of its IUCN status.
This primate should be included in the list of officially protected animals by the government of Indonesia.
Editor’s Note: Roos et al (2014) and Nijman et al (2011) may be in error: there appear to be no original confirmed
records of P. c. chrysomelas north of the Baram river, thus reports of their historical presence in Brunei and Sabah
are in question (Quentin Phillipps, pers. comm.).
References:Ampeng, A & Md‐Zain, B. M. (2012). Ranging Patterns of Critically Endangered Colobine, Presbytis chrysomelaschrysomelas. The Scientific World Journal, 2012: 1–7.
Bennett, E. L. (1992). A Wildlife Survey in Sarawak, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, USA.
Bernard, H., Bili, R., Wearn, O., Hanya, G. & Ahmad, A. (2014). The distribution and persistence of primate species
in disturbed and converted forest landscapes in Sabah, Malaysia: Preliminary results. Annual Report of Pro Natura
Fund, 22(February 2013): 159–168.

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Groves, C, P. (2001). Primate Taxonomy, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA, 2001. 350 pp.
Md‐Zain, B. M. (2001). Molecular systematics of the genus Presbytis, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, NewYork, USA.
Nijman, V., Hon J & Richardson, M. (2008). Presbytis chrysomelas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008:
e.T39803A10268236.http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T39803A10268236.en
Oates, J. F., Davies, A. G. & Delson, E. (1994). The diversity of living colobines, in Colobine Monkeys: Their Ecology,Behaviour and Evolution, A. G. Davies and J. F. Oates, Eds., pp. 45–73, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Phillipps, Q & Phillipps, K. (2016). Mammals of Borneo and Their Ecology. First ed. London: John Beaufoy Publishing.
Pusparini, S. D. (2012). Population Structure and Conservation Status of Presbytis chrysomelas cruciger in Danau
Sentarum Forest Area, West Kalimantan. Graduate Thesis (in Bahasa Indonesia). Universitas Negeri Jakarta. Jakarta.
Roos, C., Boonratana, R., Supriatna, J., Fellowes, J. R., Groves, C. P., Nash, S. D., Rylands, A. B. & Mittermeier, R. A.
(2014). An updated taxonomy and conservation status review of Asian Primates. Asian Primates Journal, 4(1): 2–38.
Vun, V, F., Mahani, M. C., Lakim, M., Ampeng, A. & Md‐Zain, B. M. (2011). Phylogenetic relationships of leaf monkeys(Presbytis; Colobinae) based on cytochrome b and 12S rRNA genes. Genetics and Molecular Research, vol. 10, no.
1, pp. 368– 381.

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