Abstract

Pet trade is an important mechanism for introducing alien species. We surveyed a total of 434 pet shops in major cities of Taiwan and found 49 species of alien amphibians belonging to 14 families and 31 genera. Two of the alien species, Rana catesbeiana and Kaloula pulchra, have established in the fields and the other three, Bufo marinus, Xenopus laevis, and Dendrobates auratus, have invasion records in other countries. There were 16 CITES Appendix II species. The most frequently displayed species were the horned frogs, eratophrys spp. And the most abundant species was the American Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana. We urge the authority of Taiwan establishing regulations on pet trade and enforcing the wildlife conservation law to reduce the risks of alien species invasions.

中文摘要

寵物交易是引進外來種的一個重要管道。本研究調查臺灣西部都會區434 家水族寵 物店販售之兩棲類，共發現49 種外來兩棲類，分屬於14 科31 屬。其中，美洲牛蛙（Rana catesbeiana）及亞洲錦蛙（Kaloula pulchra）兩外來種已在臺灣野外建立族群；另外三種： 海蟾蜍（Bufo marinus）、非洲爪蟾（Xenopus laevis）及綠箭毒蛙（Dendrobates auratus）則有入侵其他地區的紀錄。此外，還發現16 種華盛頓公約附錄二列名的兩棲類。寵物店最常販售的兩棲類是角蛙（Ceratophrys spp.），而販售數量最多的則是美洲牛蛙的幼蛙。我們呼籲相關單位儘速建立寵物交易的管理辦法，並加強執行野生動物保育法，以減低外來種入侵臺灣的風險。

Keyword: Alien species, Invasive species, Amphibians, Pet trade.