Only Leps are listed?

[Cris Guppy & Aud Fischer]

There are also a few non-insect invertebrates listed, mainly scorpions (I
think also some tarantulas). Essentially the listings are only concerned
with species that may have a significant commercial trade associated with
them, where that trade might affect their conservation status. Only
"spectacular" butterflies (all are Papilionidae - swallowtails, apollos and
birdwings) are listed from Lepidoptera. The scorpions are apparently of
interest to people who want to keep them alive in at terrarium.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Walker" <MWalker at gensym.com>
To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: August 3, 2000 7:55 AM
Subject: Only Leps are listed?


> >From the Permit-L listserve, Mike Carpenter of USFWS recently wrote:
>
> For example, birdwing butterflies and
> scleractinian corals are listed and both are greatly
> threatened by collecting from the wild.  However, there are
> no listed species in any insect family other than
> lepidoptera and I would suggest that the invertebrate folks
> review the CITES Appendices to find out what a small portion
> of inverts are actually listed by CITES.
>
> I confess, I've never reviewed the CITES literature (although it's taking
up
> hard disk space).  Can anyone explain to me, assuming the above is true,
why
> only leps have been considered?  What sort of bias does this imply?
>
> Mark Walker
>
>