The Bugs of Jambi: Insights from a Hemiptera Collection in the Lowlands of Sumatra, Indonesia

Kasmiatun is an entomology researcher in the Plant Protection Division of the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI). She began her career as researcher in the oil palm plantation since July 2025. Prior to this role, Kasmiatun was actively involved as research assistant for seven years in EFForTS project, a collaborative research between Indonesia and Germany. She started her research career in 2018, the same year she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University. Her undergraduate thesis, conducted as part of the EFForTS project, focused on the diversity and species composition of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) across four land use systems in Jambi, Sumatra. Since then, she has remained consistently engaged in research and continues to contribute to scientific publications. Her deep interest in insects drives her commitment to supporting fundamental research in Indonesia, particularly in the field of entomology, taxonomy, and insect ecology.

Rizky Nazarreta is a research assistant for the EFForTS project, mainly in the subproject Z02 “Monitoring of aboveground Animal Biodiversity”. Rizky earned her Bachelor’s degree at the Department of Plant Protection, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia in 2012. She then conducted her Master’s research at the same university, but in the framework of the EFForTS project, where she studied the community-level response of arboreal ants (Formicidae) to conversion of lowland rainforest to rubber and oil palm plantations. After receiving her MSi degree in 2017, Rizky stayed with the EFForTS project in which she now organizes and manages the taxonomic sorting and measuring of arboreal arthropod collections for downstream analyses. She also organizes the writing and compilation of EFForTS field guides of various arthropod groups, and their publication with BRIN.

Bonauli Pakpahan is an illustrator who lives and works in Jambi Province, Indonesia. His distinctive personal style is concerned with fine art, digital art, surrealism, organic forms in the natural world, and expresses the vibrant spirit. Naturally, he was drawn to painting by self-taught and the interest was cultivated during his childhood. Throughout his life, he has always been fascinated by images and how the world is represented through the eyes of painted. In March 2022, he joined the EFForTS project as a spider illustrator in the subproject Z02 which is assigned to the monitoring of aboveground biodiversity along the land-use change gradient studied in EFForTS.

Akhmad Rizali is a lecturer at the Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Brawijaya (UB). He is also the Head of Plant Pest Laboratory and Head of Agricultural Entomology Study Program. His research interest is on the effects of local and landscape drivers on biodiversity, especially natural enemies and pollinators in tropical agricultural landscapes. He received his B.Sc. degree from the Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in 2000, his M.Sc. degree from the Entomology Study Program, IPB, in 2006, and his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Crop Science, University of Göttingen, Germany in 2012.

Purnama Hidayat is a lecturer at the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University. He has also previously held the position of Head of the Insect Biotaxonomy Laboratory. His research interests focused on insect biodiversity and taxonomy, including insect pests, predators, parasitoids, and other beneficial insects. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at the Department of Plant Protection, IPB University, Indonesia, in 1985. He then pursued his Master’s degree in Entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, in 1992, followed by a doctorate from the same university in 1996. He was awarded the title of Professor in the field of Agricultural Entomology last year, in 2024.

Damayanti Buchori is a lecturer at the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia, where she is also the Head of the Biological Control Laboratory. Damayanti is also the Head of the Center for Transdisciplinary and Sustainability Sciences (CTSS), IPB University. Her research interests lie in the interphase of conservation-agricultural issues with a special focus on insect diversity and land-use change, biological control, pollination ecology, and sustainability sciences. She is also active in work related to science-based policies. She began her Bachelor’s education in the Department of Pest and Plant Diseases, IPB University, Indonesia in 1984 and received her Master’s degree in 1989 from the Entomology Department, University of Illinois. In 1993, she received her Ph.D. from the Biology Department, Indiana University, USA. She has held a Professor of Entomology and Plant Pests since 2014.

Stefan Scheu is head of the Animal Ecology Group, JFB-Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Germany. He is interested in the diversity, ecology and evolution of soil animals, decomposer communities, rhizosphere ecology, and food web ecology. He earned his Diploma in Biology at the University of Göttingen, where he also completed his doctoral studies in 1989 on the soil-living, saprophagous macrofauna on temperate limestone forests. Stefan then continued as a Postdoc at the JFB-Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen and at the University of Calgary, Canada. In 1998 he was appointed as Professor of Zoology and Ecology at Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. Since 2008, he holds the Chair in Animal Ecology at the University of Göttingen. While being Speaker of the EFForTS project, he also conducts research on the ecological consequences of rainforest transformation on arboreal and soil-living invertebrates.

Jochen Drescher is a biologist at the Animal Ecology Group of Prof. Scheu at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Jochen spent his undergrad years at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule RWTH Aachen and the Julius-Maximillian-Universität Würzburg (both Germany). He received his Diploma in Biology from Würzburg University in 2006, and completed his dissertation at the same university in 2011, studying the ecology and population structure of the invasive Yellow Crazy Ant Anoplolepis gracilipes in Malaysian Borneo. After an interim position at Bayreuth University, Germany, he joined the EFForTS project in 2012 as a postdoctoral researcher. Within EFForTS, Jochen studies the ecological impacts of rainforest transformation to rubber and oil palm on arboreal arthropods in Sumatra, and has published several scientific papers and field guides on the main arthropod taxa, including ants, beetles, spiders, parasitoid wasps, spiders and springtails.