Monitoring trade of rare wildlife species at Internet auctions: Example of the small salamander

<p>The Internet trade of rare species is a pressing issue worldwide. Small salamanders are among the taxa whose local populations have been threatened by collection. As of February 2022, 45 small salamander species have been recorded in Japan, of which 42 are listed in the Red Data Book 2020 of the Ministry of the Environment. Recent taxonomic research has recognised local populations in various regions as new species. Most species gather in small breeding ponds in the mountains and spawn in groups, a habit that exposes the adults, eggs, and larvae to the risk of mass collection. In this study, we focused on Internet auc- tions in Japan, where customer-to-customer trade (C2C trade) is very active, to investigate the trade status of small salamanders and identify some of the issues related to the trade of rare wildlife species. We used a comprehensive archive of transactions (including product name, price, bid date, product image and description, etc.) from Internet auction sites in Japan; the sites either provide information free of charge or are run by companies that charge a fee. We examined small living salamanders listed and sold in the "Pets and Creatures" category of auction sites from January 2011 to December 2020. There were 4,105 confirmed transactions (total value of successful bids: 14,977,021 JPY) for 28 species over the past 10 years on one of Japan's largest auction sites. The most transactions per species was for the clouded salamander Hynobius nebulosus (962 transactions), which is listed as endangered in the Red Data Book (Category IB [EN] or II [VU]), followed in order by the Japanese Black salamander H. nigrescens, Hida salamander H. kimurae, and Ezo salamander H. retardatus. Initially, the total number of transactions for small salamanders was around 200 per year, but has increased dramatically in recent years, exceeding 1,117 in 2020 (with the success- ful bids totalling 5,282,518 JPY in that year). This rapid increase was due to a few individuals who frequently advertise on the Internet. In addition, the number of transactions of those species more than doubled after cryptic species were described as new species in taxonomic studies. Therefore, immediate action is required to preserve local salamander populations. The method used in this study can be easily applied to survey trades involving other plants and animals.</p>