Can anyone give me or make a list of invertebrate species kept in captivity. At websites like Zootierliste they only list vertebrates, and it is impossible to find any other source listing the invertebrates kept in captivity. So I wondered if anyone could make or post a list, even though it is easy to relax and ask other people to the work for you, I would be very gratefull if somebody would post it. Especially Im interested in butterfly species kept in captivity.
My guess is that most species are in private collections, not in zoos. I have seen more invertebrate species on a single swap market organized by amateur enthusiasts than in all the zoos I have visited combined.
Nobody knows! Aquarists can buy 'living rock' which is imported from coral reefs - this is colonised by large numbers of invertebrates, from bacteria to bristleworms. Each piece could have slightly different fauna when collected and the differences would become more pronounced the longer it is kept. Likewise invertebrates can be imported deliberately for the pet trade (eg certain scorpions and the butterflies you mention) and accidentally in cargoes such as fruit and even in bilge water. I would suggest a Google search for dealers in live butterflies as a starting point for finding out about the Lepidoptera which are available. Alan
Okay, but I have already looked for butterfly species kept in captivity on Google, and I did not find much, so I wonder if anyone can at least post a list of the butterfly species kept in captivity.
Several thousands invertebrate species are kept by zoos and aquariums around the world. The number is even larger if including private keepers. There are hundreds of butterfly species kept in butterfly houses around the world. The perhaps most diverse butterfly zoo in Europe is the Butterfly Farm in Stratford-upon-Avon in England and they alone keep about 250 species of butterflies and moths in a typical year. No list that is anywhere near complete for all zoos exists. If a list had existed it would also change all the time as some species fall out of favour and new species are bred at farms. For example Ornithoptera only started appearing with a level of regularity in butterfly houses outside Australia a few years ago.
If you combine these three lists you get all butterflies and moths that are common in butterfly zoos and also many species that are rarer in butterfly zoos. http://www.butterflyfarm.co.uk/pupaeshop/pdf/euro100001.pdf http://www.butterflyworld.com/butterflyguide/0butterflyguide.html http://www.missouribotanicalgarden....lies-and-plants/our-butterfly-collection.aspx There are also a lot of species missing from the lists but these are rarer species kept in few butterfly houses
If you want a couple of suppliers try London Pupae Supplies: Tropical Butterfly and Moth Pupae for Exhibitions and Individuals and Worldwide Butterflies - over 50 years of supplying butterflies, moths, livestock, and entomological equipment
https://www.zsl.org/about-us/animal-inventory List of species in London and Whipsnade zoo (including invertebrates.)
Another useful source for those species that are conservation targets are the EAZA TAG annual reports. The most recent report I can find is here: http://www.eaza.net/assets/Uploads/Annual-report/TAG-reports-2013-2014.pd. Important terrestrial invertebrates currently the focus of captive breeding programmes are various species of Partula Snail, Fregate Beetle, Lord How Stick Insect and some spiders. Captive propagation of corals is also an area of research.
Thanks! Great to know at least a few zoos keep other Pachnoda species than P. marginata peregrina. Also, how can they not know the gender of E. tiaratum stick insects. It's really obvious. Same to C. morosus. All C. morosus in captivity are parthenogenetic females, but they do list all their specimens as gender unknown.
I think diversity in zoos is far too low. There are many families of big and colorful tropical beetles, of which only Pachnoda flower beetles are regularly presented. There are many big and strikingly beautiful true bugs (Hemiptera) and dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), completely absent in zoos. Zoos make mistake by showing insects like they were large animals. Insects often can be safe and easy contact animals. They are of special interest to children (it is only adults, especially females, who fear insects and prefer big and especially fluffy mammals). Most zoo insects can be kept as pets, so giving interest in living things going much deeper and longer. Zoos did not figure yet how to make use of it.
