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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lifestyle

Erin Heffernan

Butterfly house raising 'black market' praying mantids, even when no one is there to see them

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. _ Tad Yankoski already knew he was going to have a busy month.

Yankoski, senior entomologist at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield, got an unusual shipment on March 10 that would excite most any insect expert: Black market praying mantid eggs that had been confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection from a shipping facility in Kentucky. With all the proper USDA certifications, the butterfly house in Faust Park was picked to care for the egg cases that could contain hundreds of insects.

Fast forward less than a week, and Yankoski's busy month turned surreal.

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