A Chinese man and his Kenyan associate have been charged with illegally dealing in wildlife species after they were caught trying to smuggle more than 2,000 live queen garden ants out of Kenya.

Zhang Kequn was arrested at the international airport in the capital Nairobi last week after authorities discovered the large consignment of ants in his luggage –each of them either stashed in a test tube or wrapped in tissue.

On Tuesday, a court in Nairobi heard that Zhang bought the ants from Charles Mwangi at 10,000 Kenyan shillings ($77; £58) for every 100 of them.

Kenyan authorities have been warning about of a growing demand for garden ants in Europe and Asia, where collectors keep them as pets.

Officials have not said if this were the case for the insects Zhang tried to bring out of the country, but his luggage was bound for China.

The two men, who were also charged with conspiring to commit a felony, remain in custody.

Mwangi faces a second count of the illegal dealing charge, after he was found with more live ants in a separate occasion.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to Nairobi media outlets.

Zhang's attorney David Lusweti said the men did not know that they were breaking the law.

"They have seen potential that they are able to sell outside the country, they believe that they can make a living out of it," he told the Associated Press.

Zhang and Mwangi will appear before the court again on 27 March.

More arrests are expected, a senior official from the Kenya Wildlife Service earlier told the BBC, as investigators expand their probe into other towns where ant harvesting was suspected to be ongoing.

In May last year, a Kenyan court sentenced four men to one year in prison or a fine of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of live queen ants out of the country. The insects were reportedly destined for collectors in Europe and Asia.