CONSERVATION
IUCN Redlist category Least Concern (IUCN 2020)
Rationale for redlist categorization Ornithoptera priamus has been assessed as Least Concern. This birdwing butterfly has a wide distribution across eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the northern east coast of Australia. Some subspecies are widespread and considered common, and its listing as a CITES Appendix II species monitors and regulated trade in the species. The species occurs in secondary forest, has established itself in parts of its range in parks and gardens where the food plant vines have been planted. However, some subspecies may be much rarer, and potentially declining in parts of its range where it is affected by habitat loss. Monitoring and population status evaluations of understudied subspecies are required to identify any necessary conservation action aimed at the subspecies assessment, including the provision of subspecies-level conservation assessments. (IUCN 2020)
Threat category Ecosystem conversion|Ecosystem degradation (IUCN 2020)
Cause of stress Shifting agriculture (IUCN 2020)
Described Threats This species is generally considered to be widespread and common, but some subspecies are more restricted and suffering from habitat change and destruction, e.g. populations found on Louisiade archipelago, Duke of York Island, Woodlark Island, Trobriand Island (Haugum and Low 1979, Collins and Morris 1985). Subspecies urvillianus is vulnerable to overcollection and habitat loss due to conversion to agriculture, since adults are highly philopatric and not shy.
This species features in the species trade, although the effect of trade on its population numbers was unclear in 1985 (Collins and Morris 1985). 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. In 1985, no significant threat was attributed to collection and trade of specimen, despite the species being one of the most valuable Ornithoptera species. Trade from Irian Jaya has been traditionally absent or low prior to the assessment in 1985, given that the species was so little known in the area until then (Collins and Morris 1985). Today, most specimen come from ranched populations (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. Very few of the individuals traded are 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 export of specimens occurs in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea: of the just over 300,000 individuals exported from all range states between 2000 and 2015, 48% and 37% came from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, respectively (CITES 2015). Most of the Indonesian, Papua New Guinean and Solomon Island exports over the same time period were ranched individuals (88%, 68%, and 82% respectively; CITES 2015). Most of the Australian export stem from captive populations (92%; CITES 2015). For all range countries, trade in wild-caught specimens was less than 4% between 2000 and 2015, apart from Papua New Guinea for which information suggests that 22% of exported specimens (bodies, trophies etc) were wild-caught (CITES 2015). This is in agreement with previous trends in trade between 1987 and 2005, where captive-bred individuals were the most common source of traded individuals (UNEP-WCMC 2007). (IUCN 2020)
Applied conservation actions This species features in the butterfly trade. This had led to declines in some populations in the past, for example subspecies miokensis was already suggested for butterfly farming in the late 1970s, to reverse trends of decline (Haugum and Low 1979). The species is now listed on CITES Appendix II, along with all other Ornithoptera species, with the exception of O. alexandrae which is instead listed on CITES Appendix I. Given that most specimens in the CITES trade records stem from ranched or captive-bred individuals, threats through trade appear to have been widely addressed (CITES 2015).
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).
In 1979, Haugum and Low reported that this is the only species of Ornithoptera which is not included under the Fauna Protection Ordinance in Papua New Guinea, though this may have since changed.
Given that there is limited information available for some subspecies, monitoring and evaluation of population status of understudied subspecies would vastly improve our knowledge of this species and our ability to address any population declines where they may occur. (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.
- 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.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.