IUCN Redlist category Least Concern (IUCN 2020)
Rationale for redlist categorization Ornithoptera goliath has been listed as Least Concern. This species has a comparatively wide extent of occurrence throughout mainland Papua and adjacent islands. Despite originally being thought to be rare, the species is more common than thought. The species has still been traded as wild-caught individuals in Papua New Guinea between 2000 and 2015, so that we recommend monitoring of key populations and harvest levels to ensure sustainability of trade into the future. (IUCN 2020)
Threat category Species mortality (IUCN 2020)
Cause of stress Intentional use (species is the target) (IUCN 2020)
Described Threats Given that this species may be locally common, it is unlikely to be threatened by any specific threat processes. This species features in the species trade. Butterfly collectors have paid high prices for birdwing butterflies of this genus: a pair of Ornithoptera meridionalis was reported to have fetched USD 3,400 in Germany (Melisch and Schutz 2000). As a result, all Ornithoptera are listed on CITES Appendix II, with the exception of Ornithoptera alexandrae which is listed on CITES Appendix I. According to CITES databases, most trade in O. croesus comes from ranched individuals (CITES 2015). Butterfly ranching is generally thought of as a sound, economically viable and sustainable rural industry (Wambi 1996, Hanscom 1993, Burrows 2003 in Small 2007). However, there are concerns that butterfly ranching may not be as sustainable in some countries as it is often perceived to be (e.g., Papua New Guinea; Small 2007). This is based on a lack of data and species monitoring to assess the status of butterfly populations, and for many species, such monitoring is fraught with difficulty due to inaccessibility of their habitat (Small 2007). It has been stated that overcollecting seldom becomes a threat to butterflies, due to the reproductive capacity of insects and the difficulty in capturing significant numbers of the population (Pyle and Hughes 1978, in Parsons 1992). However, where birdwing butterflies are highly specific to host plants and where density of these hosts plants limits population size, collection in conjunction with habitat loss could have significant impacts on the species or subpopulations. A relatively high proportion of traded individuals in Papua New Guinea is also taken from the wild (CITES 2015). (IUCN 2020)
Commercial use Butterflies are mostly traded dead for the curio market (Collins and Morris 1985, New and Collins 1991). Between 1998 to 2007, 306,000 butterflies were traded from Southeast Asia, with 13,000 of these being wild-caught (Nijman 2010). There is a distinct shift towards ranched and captive-bred individuals in trade from 2003 onwards; in 1985, it was reported that globally less than 10% of trade was in ranched individuals (Collins and Morris 1985). Altogether at least 34 different species were recorded in trade, most of which belonged to the birdwing butterflies ( Troides and Ornithoptera ; Nijman 2010). It should be noted that trade in butterflies may be underreported, because of difficulties monitoring. New and Collins (1991) noted that trade is extremely difficult to monitor because transportation of unpinned specimens is easy, especially of comparatively low value species which may instead be traded at high volumes.
Birdwings can fetch high prices on the market. For example, butterfly collectors have paid high prices for birdwing butterflies of this genus: a pair of Ornithoptera meridionalis was reported to have fetched USD 3,400 in Germany (Melisch and Schutz 2000). This species is listed with all other birdwings on CITES Appendix II ( Ornithoptera, Trogonoptera and Troides , with the exception of O. alexandrae which is listed on Appendix I). Most specimens exported from Indonesia are traded from ranched populations, with overall ca. 26,000 of the reported ca. 30,000 specimens exported from Indonesia between 2000 and 2015 originating from ranched individuals, with few (less than 200 individuals) traded from wild captures (CITES 2015). Following from recommendations by Parsons (1983), the species was also subject to butterfly farming in Aseki, Menyamya and Gumi in Papua New Guinea's Morobe Province (Parsons 1999). Butterfly ranching of this species continues in Papua New Guinea, but wild-caught specimens are also traded: around 60% of the ca. 21,000 specimens exported from the country between 2000 and 2015 originated from ranched populations, with 31% traded from wild-caught specimens (CITES 2015). This is in agreement with previous trends from both countries between 1987 and 2005, where ranched individuals were the most common source of traded individuals in Indonesia, and both ranched and wild-caught ones in Papua New Guinea (UNEP-WCMC 2007). (IUCN 2020)
Applied conservation actions Given the wide range and the fact that the species can be locally common (Parsons, in Collins and Morris 1985), it is unlikely that this species requires any specific conservation actions. Subspecies supremus is protected by law in Papua New Guinea (Haugum and Low 1979), though is still traded from wild-caught individuals (CITES 2015). Subspecies atlas is also protected (D'Abrera 1971) and in Indonesia there are very few records of wild-caught traded specimens (CITES 2015). Overall, the species is listed on Appendix II of CITES, together with all other Ornithoptera , although with the exception of O. alexandrae which is listed on Appendix I. There are a number of protected areas within the range of the butterfly, but it is unknown whether the species occurs within them (WDPA 2013). Given that trade in wild-caught specimens continues in Papua New Guinea, monitoring of populations and trade levels is recommended to ensure sustainable use. (IUCN 2020)
REFERENCES
- CITES. 2015. CITES Trade Data Base. Available at: http://trade.cites.org/.
- Collins, N.M. and Morris, M.G. 1985. Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge.
- D'Abrera, B. 1971. Butterflies of the Australian Region. Lansdowne Press, Melbourne.
- Hanscom, T. 1993. Setting hearts aflutter: little butterflies take wing as big business. The Rotarian 163: 16-19.
- Haugum, J. and Low, A.M. 1979. A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies. Scandinavian Science Press, Klampenborg.
- IUCN. 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-3. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 December 2020).
- Melisch, R. and Schutz, P. 2000. Butterflies and beetles in Germany. Traffic Bulletin 18: 91-93.
- New, T.R. and Collins, N.M. 1991. Swallowtail butterflies: an action plan for their conservation. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources/Species Survival Commission Lepidoptera Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland.
- Nijman, V. 2010. An overview of international wildlife trade from Southeast Asia. Biodiversity and Conservation 19(1101-1114).
- Parsons, M. 1999. The butterflies of Papua New Guinea: their systematics and biology. Academic Press., London.
- Parsons, M.J. 1992. The butterfly farming and trading industry in the Indo-Australian region and its role in tropical forest conservation. Tropical Lepidoptera 3(Suppl. 1): 1-31.
- Pyle, R.M. and Hughes, S.A. 1978. Conservation and Utilization of the Insect Resources of Papua New Guinea. Wildlife Branch, Department of Natural Resources, Port Moresby.
- Small, R.D.S. 2007. Becoming unsustainable? Recent trends in the formal sector of insect trading in Papua New Guinea. Oryx 41(3): 386-389.
- UNEP-WCMC. 2007. Review of trade in ranched birdwing butterflies. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge.
- Wambi, D. 1996. Birds, bugs and butterflies. New Guinea Insight 6: 5-9.
- WDPA. 2013. World database of Protected Areas. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net.