APHIS Pest Lists
Their Origination and Purpose

USDA APHIS PPQ has established several pest lists for various purposes. PPQ has supported the development of pest lists and supporting documentation from several national professional scientific societies and other sources. Their independent expertise for distinct taxonomic groups provides a valuable resource for pest threat evaluation. This information is subsequently analyzed from a safeguarding perspective for potential inclusion in other PPQ lists. No one list is considered to represent the scope of all of APHIS’ diverse goals and objectives, but each plays a part in safeguarding the health of American animals, plants and the ecosystem, and facilitating safe agricultural trade. Four lists, and one database, described here represent the primary focus of those activities.

Regulated Plant Pest List (RPPL)
The list was derived from pests identified in the U.S Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR 300-399), regulated pests frequently intercepted from imported commodities at U.S. ports of entry, and regulated pests identified by APHIS or stakeholders as having the potential to cause serious economic or environmental damage in the U.S.. It is intended, under the international principles of sanitary and phytosanitary agreements, to provide the trading partners of the United States with an official USDA APHIS list of Regulated Plant Pests of concern to the U.S.. The listed organisms were a known threat at the time of their listing, and therefore, may not include all pests for which USDA APHIS would necessarily take action.

Offshore Pest Information System (OPIS) Target Pest List (restricted access)
The list was originally derived by consolidating, ranking and condensing lists of several hundred organisms identified as potentially harmful exotic pests by numerous professional scientific societies, APHIS regulations, the USDA Regulated Plant Pest List, USDA APHIS PPQ Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) target pests, and horticultural commodity groups. Using this list of pests which pose such significant risk to U.S. animal and plant health, APHIS ensures that all possible safeguarding measures are employed to prevent their entry into the U.S.. It is used to focus monthly, or more frequent, international monitoring activities. The list is dynamic, and will change depending on the latest available science, current exotic pest status, or existing or emerging pathways through which significant exotic pests may gain entry into the U.S..

National Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) Target Pest List
The list is derived by a national pest survey committee through input from regional and state committees with support from leading scientific and regulatory specialists and uses a scientific system for prioritizing pests of significance to U.S. agriculture and the environment. Pest information is contained in the Global Pest and Disease Database (GPDD) and pest risk assessments are done. The database contains information of those exotic plant pests and weeds considered to be potentially significant if they were to become established in the United States. This list provides a national focus for federally funded domestic surveys for plant pests, biological control agents, and weeds conducted by cooperators in the National Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) program, and provides a means for detection, documentation, and rapid dissemination of survey information. Survey information is captured in the National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS) database.