Threats
The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is considered endangered by the IUCN, being restricted to approximately 100 square kilometres of coastal rainforest near Popondetta, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. It is nonetheless abundant locally and requires old growth rainforest for its long term survival. The major threat for this species is habitat destruction for oil palm plantations. However, the eruption of nearby Mount Lamington in the 1950s destroyed a very large area of this species' former habitat and is a key reason for its current rarity. Because of its rarity, this butterfly fetches a very high price on the black market.
The species is also highly prized by collectors. Although collectors are often implicated with the decline of this species, habitat destruction is the main threat. Early collectors, frustrated by the height at which adults fly during the day, often used small shotguns to down specimens, but because collectors demand high quality specimens for their collections, most specimens are reared from larvae or pupae.
The species is listed on Appendix I of CITES, meaning that international trade is illegal. At the 2006 meeting of the CITES Animals Committee some suggested it should be moved to Appendix II (which would allow restricted trade in the species), as the conservation benefits of sustainable management perhaps are higher than those of the trade ban.
Read more about this topic: Ornithoptera Alexandrae
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