MARANG: The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) Indo-Malayan Kelulut Repository, which houses over 20 unique and rare species of the stingless bee, is expected to become a new ecotourism attraction in Terengganu.
Head of the UMT Bee and Stingless Bee Researcher Group (SIG), Prof Dr Shamsul Bahri Abd Razak (pix) said the repository, located at a 0.4-hectare site at UMT’s second campus in Bukit Kor here, was developed in April last year at a cost of RM100,000.
He said it was set up with the main objective of serving as a genetic bank or collection centre for various species of sting bees for use as reference and research by researchers nationwide.
“Among the sing bee species found here are Heterotrigona erythrogastra, Tetrigona apicalis, Homotrigona aliceae, Tetrogona binghami, Sundatrigona moorei and Tetrogona peninsularis which are not found elsewhere,” he told Bernama when met at the repository in Bukit Kor here.
Shamsul Bahri said the repository in Bukit Kor was also developed to replace the original repository at the Sekayu State Agricultural Park, Hulu Terengganu, which was destroyed during the major flood in 2021.
According to him, the floods caused huge losses not only to the university, but also to researchers and the state’s ecotourism sector.
“The original repository at Sekayu was the first in Malaysia and it became the world’s largest collection centre for stingless bees.
“SIG took decades to gather the collection through travels around the world. It is very sad when all is lost overnight,“ he added.
He said SIG was now trying to get funds to develop the repository in Bukit Kor as a state ecotourism destination with plans being made to set up an information centre and the use of Internet of Things (IOT) technology for the purpose of monitoring and disseminating information to visitors.
“The UMT second campus at Bukit Kor is very large. It would be a shame if it is not developed because of its potential to become an ecotourism destination.
“Apart from the stingless bee repository, Bukit Kor is also an agricultural area,” he said.
In a related development, Shamsul Bahri said SIG is hoping to get the repository in Bukit Koh into the Malaysia Book Of Records (MBOR) as the first repository having the largest number of Indo-Malayan species of stingless bees. - Bernama
