A comprehensive assessment of Australia’s terrestrial invertebrate pet trade across physical and online marketplaces
摘要
The terrestrial invertebrate trade in Australia is both poorly researched and largely exempt from regulation, despite numerous conservation and biosecurity risks. To determine the extent and implications of this trade, we conducted systematic monitoring of domestic invertebrate sales between 2019 and 2025, spanning online and physical marketplaces. Platforms surveyed included social media groups, pet store websites, public classifieds, insect trading expositions, and pet stores across all Australian state and territory capital cities. Using a combination of automated web-scraping and manual field surveys, we recorded 12,839 advertisements involving at least 568 invertebrate species from 410 genera and 138 families, as well as 121 undescribed ‘pseudo-taxa’. Of the described species, 537 were native and 33 were non-native. Comparison with a previous Australian snapshot study revealed substantial species turnover, including new emerging taxa and species no longer observed in trade since 2020. Thirty-five advertised species are listed under the IUCN Red List, CITES, or Australia’s EPBC Act, including one Critically Endangered species (Thersites mitchellae) for which trade is strictly prohibited. We document a substantial diversity of species not previously reported in wildlife trade and provide the first survey to concurrently monitor trade within expositions, pet stores, the surface web, and social media. Our findings highlight the scale, diversity, and conservation significance of Australia’s terrestrial invertebrate trade, and demonstrate the need for improved monitoring and regulation to mitigate conservation and biosecurity risks.