A new species of fairy lantern named Thismia selangorensis has been discovered in the Hulu Langat Forest Reserve, Selangor. It is only 10 cm tall and gets its name from its lantern-like appearance and three delicate antennae.
Fairy lanterns are mycoheterotrophic plants without chlorophyll that cannot photosynthesize to survive and rely entirely on parasitic soil fungi for nutrition.
Although newly discovered, Thismia selangorensis has been included in the IUCN Red List of Critically Endangered Plants because only about 20 individuals are known to exist in their natural habitat. It is estimated that there are only four Thismia selangorensis in an area of 1 km².
The discovery was made by Tan Gim Siew in November 2023 while visiting the Chongkak Sungai Forest Eco Park in the Hulu Langat Forest Reserve. The habitat of this fairy lantern is a moist forest area, with decaying leaves and near the roots of large trees by the river. This is one of the reasons why it is endangered because it is close to recreational areas, which makes it vulnerable to trampling by visitors and flooding.
This year has been an interesting year in terms of the discovery of new and lost species in Malaysia. In June, the Gombak bent-winged firefly (Pteroptyx gombakia), which was last seen alive in 1921, was rediscovered by Tan Wei Jack, a research assistant and undergraduate student in environmental science at Monash University Malaysia.
The paper on the discovery was published in the journal Phytokeys.
