Biogeographers have long been puzzled with the way plants and animals in the Pacific islands are highly distinct from their counterparts in nearby continents. In fact, Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler Antonio Pigafetta had already observed during his voyage to the Philippines in 1521 the biological contrast of the Philippines and the Moluccas islands of Indonesia.

“We have this so-called Wallace Line, a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace to delineate the Southeast Asian and Australian fauna,” UPLB MNH researcher David Emmanuel M. General expounded during an interview.

 A new species of leaf insect has been formally described by Dr. Ireneo L. Lit, Jr. and Mr. Orlando L. Eusebio who are members of the UPLB Museum of Natural History Entomology Section. Dr. Lit is also a Professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences in the University of the Philippines Los Banos.

According to Lit and Eusebio, the new species Phyllium bonifacioi is the latest addition to the genus Phyllium, one of the four genera of the family Phylliidae. As of 2009, there are only nine species of Phyllium in the Philippines and Lit and Eusebio's recent description now brings the total to ten.

The Museum's research and extension efforts hope to get better mileage this coming 2015 with the inclusion of its staff in an Information Officers' network recently formed by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE).

According to Director Ireneo L. Lit Jr., MNH staff Florante A. Cruz (University Extension Specialist II) and James DV. Alvarez (University Extension Associate I) have been included in the network and "are expected to effectively and timely share updates and news to other members of the whole OVCRE organization."

A team of researchers from the UPLB Museum of Natural History visited the municipality of Mulanay in Quezon last November 20-23, 2014 in a bid to firm up plans for the conduct of a research-cum-technical assistance project entitled "Biodiversity Studies of Selected Areas of Mulanay’s Protected Land and Seascapes."

Mulanay is one the twelve municipalities of Bondoc Peninsula, Quezon at the southern tip of Southern Tagalog. With rugged terrains, few plains, valleys and swamps and undulating lowlands, Mulanay has several protected areas surrounding Mt. Kamhantik, the town's highest peak. It has a coral reef approximately more than a half of coastline of the municipality where fish sanctuaries have been proposed by the local government unit (LGU).

Five curators from the UPLB Museum of Natural History are set to be appointed as UP Scientists, as per information from the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. In a message to the UPLB Administration, Vice-President Gisela P. Concepcion announced the names of 27 UPLB faculty who were included in the UP Scientific Productive System's roster of UP Scientists for the period CY 2014-2016.

Included in this group were some curators from the Museum's Entomological Museum, Zoological and Wildlife Museum, and Forestry and Mycological Herbaria.

A new species of armored scale insect has been described and illustrated as the second species of Unaspis in the Philippines by UPLB Museum of Natural History Director Ireneo L. Lit, Jr. and his graduate apprentice Mr. Normandy M. Barbecho, with official publication made through the Germany-based scientific journal ARTHROPODA Generalis. Dr. Lit is also a professor at the UPLB Institute of Biological Sciences while Mr. Barbecho is his advisee currently finishing his Master of Science in Entomology degree from UPLB.

According to the authors, Unaspis mabilis Lit & Barbecho, n. sp., is a sucking insect which is known to occur in Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Mindanao islands, attacking Lanzones (Lansium domesticum).