USDA APHIS PPQ has a variety of pest tracking databases that help facilitate data-driven decisions for plant health safeguarding. PestLens is an early-warning system that supports PPQ by collecting and disseminating new information on exotic plant pests, diseases, and weeds via weekly email notifications. PestLens also serves as a plant protection information dashboard, providing a web-based archive of articles and reports, as well as a record of the resulting decisions and safeguarding actions. (Access to some information is restricted to APHIS and CBP affiliates.)

PPQ’s strategic plan includes an initiative to increase access to data by integrating data systems. ITP's digital pest identification products complement PestLens's exotic pest focus, so, starting in July 2017, ITP began linking with PestLens. We link selected IDaids to PestLens by pest name, and the IDaids are displayed on the PestLens website in articles and reports that concern the pest. The IDaids add valuable quick-reference identification resources to the pest protection information included in PestLens. So far, 90 IDaids have been selected and displayed in archived PestLens notifications, articles, and pest reports, appearing under the topic heading “Identification support (ITP IDaids) for this pest.” Many of the 80 pests covered by these IDaids were featured in recent PestLens email notifications. ITP will continue linking IDaids to PestLens pests in the coming months.

The IDaids below highlight pests mentioned in PestLens articles from May 2017 to February 2018. You can see these IDaids in PestLens articles about Cacopsylla bidens, Candidatus Phytoplasma solani, Oryctes rhinoceros, and Coleophora spiraeella. (You may need to register to access the PestLens website.)