Rare, endangered insects and spiders illegally for sale online

ITHACA, N.Y. – Endangered and threatened insects and spiders, as well as common species that provide valuable ecological services, can be easily purchased – without adequate oversight – through basic internet searches, according to a new Cornell University study.

For example, the Luzon peacock swallowtail, one of the rarest butterflies, which is listed as endangered both internationally and in the U.S., and is illegal to trade, was found for sale at Amazon.com pinned in a display box for around $110.

Many species of live tarantulas, which are not threatened with extinction but whose trade is strictly controlled, were also readily discovered for sale as pets without any oversight or enforcement.

These results are concerning given that insects are in steep decline globally due to habitat loss, pesticides, invasive species, urbanization, pollution, and climate change. Some entomologists have estimated that the Earth is losing about 10 to 20% of all insect species every decade, and researchers say an insect or spider species’ survival can be greatly impacted when it is collected and sold.

John Losey, professor of entomology, is the lead author of the paper, “Insects and Spiders on the Web: Monitoring and Mitigating Online Exploitation of Species and Services,” which published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. Paul Curtis, extension wildlife specialist in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, is a senior co-author.

“We surveyed the web to determine if there were species available for sale that are rare, threatened, or for which commerce is in some way regulated,” Losey said.

“As they get rarer and rarer, they become more and more valuable to collectors, and then the amount of collecting and sale, if not done sustainably, has greater impact on those species.”

The most expensive insect the team found for sale was a birdwing butterfly species named Ornithoptera allottei. The pinned butterfly was listed on eBay for $3,850 at the time of the search. The team also found species for sale that provide ecological services, such as ladybugs released for pest control and pollinators. Such insects should be purchased through regulated sources, because releasing diseased insects, the wrong strain, or batches not suited to thrive in areas where they are released, could impact larger wild populations and have negative effects on the services they provide.       

“Hopefully, our findings will lead to better enforcement of the illegal online sale of rare insects and protect those species in the wild,” Curtis said.

The study has been shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces illegal trade of species but lacks the resources to monitor the commerce. Losey said he hopes to continue the project with student-specialists who monitor the web for illegal sales and report findings. For insects that provide services, the hope is to put them in the framework of “livestock,” so their unregulated sale could then be monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Losey said. For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.

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