We describe a new species of Lithocarpus from the central Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia with a distribution extending north to Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah. This species was included in a previous morphometric and phylogenetic study of the section Synaedrys, mistakenly identified as L. rotundatus. Several individuals were observed on the western slopes of Mt. Kinabalu between the elevation of 1200–1500 meters. The species has a distinctive cupule, which usually completely encloses the nut and is very dark in color, almost black with a brittle texture similar to charcoal. The fruit is semi-hemispheric in shape and the bracts on the cupule are entirely fused, relatively sparse, stiff, brittle, and prominent.