Japanese Fans Driving Turkish Stag Beetle Towards Extinction

Beetle-mania is Japan is causing big problems for stag beetles in Turkey, reports the Associated Press:

A rare subspecies of stag beetle found only in the Amanos Mountains of southern Turkey is now threatened with extinction as it is being exploited for sale to beetle enthusiasts in countries like Japan, a local conservationist has warned.

Nazim Sonmez, of the Amanos Environmental Protection Association, said the beetle is being over-harvested owing in part to the popularity among Japanese children of “Mushiking: The King of Beetles,” an arcade game in which players engage in virtual battles between beetles from all over the world.

Sonmez said some Japanese passing themselves off as researchers have come to the Amanos area of Hatay Province to catch or otherwise acquire the rare and distinct beetle, which goes by the scientific name Lucanus cervus akbesianus.

Locals are also involved in exploiting them to sell to foreigners, especially Japanese, at exorbitant prices amounting to as much as 1,450 lira (some 13,000 yen).

They sell for as much as 40,000 yen on Japanese Internet auction sites.