The chocolates, potato chips and other colorful snacks that arrived as cargo at Los Angeles International Airport from Japan last month looked tempting.

The shipment, though, wasn’t destined to hit store shelves. Agriculture specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection discovered 37 giant live beetles hidden inside snack bags and containers, and agency officials said this week that the insects had most likely been intended for exotic insect collections.

They said that the beetles were worth about $1,500. The illegally smuggled insects included scarab beetles, stag beetles and darkling beetles, the agency said.

These bugs are four to six inches long, and some collectors enjoy seeing them fight against each other with their hornlike appendages during mating season, according to Jaime Ruiz, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

It’s illegal to import most live insects — including spiders and scorpions — into the United States without a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also requires permission to bring in some live invertebrates, like worms and snails.

In addition, there are great risks to the environment and agriculture when an insect is introduced to a place where it doesn’t naturally belong, experts said, pointing to the accidental introduction five years ago of “murder hornets” from East Asia to Washington State.