Ecological risk assessment and management of interior alien species of pet insects

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26430205
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Conservation of biological resources
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Araya Kunio 九州大学, 比較社会文化研究院, 教授 (10263138)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KARUBE Haruki 神奈川県立生命の星, 地球博物館, 主任学芸員 (50261194)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 国内外来種 / ペット昆虫 / 進化的重要単位 / 遺伝子浸透 / 生態リスク評価 / リスク管理 / 多様性保全

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, the market for both exotic and interior insects especially rhinoceros and stag beetles as pets is growing fast in Japan. Large-scale trading of pet insects in Japan may cause significant problems, such as genetic disturbance (hybridization) to some native taxa and decreasing in their populations, as they may become invasive.
Under these situations, we tried to estimate ESU (Evolutionarily Significant Unit) based on the molecular analysis for Japanese native taxa, and found that most insular populations should be considered as ESU. Further, we applied both molecular and morphological analyses to the ecological risk assessment and management of pet insects including interior alien species by identifying the place of their detailed origin, and by identifying their larvae and female adults which are not easily distinguished from one another.

Free Research Field

昆虫系統分類学、生物多様性科学