U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists in Philadelphia have seen many insects, mostly as hitchhikers stowing away on a produce shipment or burrowed into wood packaging material, but finding mantis eggs inside a computer gaming mouse is a first.
CBP officers initially x-rayed a parcel on August 7 that was manifested as a wireless computer gaming mouse from Spain and detected anomalies inside the computer mouse. The parcel was destined to an address in Hillsborough County, N.H.
Officers examined the mouse and discovered three brown sacks and a live insect concealed inside the mouse. Officers preserved the sacks and insect inside a sealed evidence bag and turned it over to CBP agriculture specialists.
On August 11, CBP agriculture specialists, working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors, determined that the sacks were mantis egg masses and the live insect was a mantis. The egg masses soon hatched while inside the sealed evidence bag.
Mantis are present in the United States and are not an endangered species. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regulates the importation of live insects into the United States. Importers are required to attain permits and meet requirements for importing live insects.
CBP turned the live mantis and egg masses over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on August 13. USFWS is working to place the live mantis with the Academy of Natural Sciences museum in Philadelphia.
