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About IDaids

The IDaid collection is produced by USDA-PPQ's Identification Technology Program (ITP). ITP supports PPQ in its mission to safeguard U.S. agriculture and natural resources against the entry, establishment, and spread of economically and environmentally significant pests and facilitate the safe trade of agricultural products. Efficient and accurate pest identification is essential to our nation’s efforts to safeguard our natural and agricultural resources. ITP strives to keep PPQ’s digital identification resources current through the delivery of a variety of products that support screening and identification of invasive insects, mites, snails and slugs, diseases, and weeds. To learn more about ITP and its products, please visit idtools.org.

Organizations and individuals around the world create quality digital identification resources similar to those ITP produces that also support PPQ’s mission. As a supplement to the identification products ITP delivers, ITP maintains an ongoing collection of IDaids: high-quality websites and web-based tools that support identification of plant pests of concern to PPQ. While a Google search will help you find these resources, you may have to spend time evaluating a particular website to determine whether it is a worthwhile resource or not. ITP’s IDaid collection helps save time, as each IDaid is thoroughly reviewed and evaluated to ensure it has value and is from a reputable source. This collection of nearly 6,000 vetted IDaids includes both web- and app-based image galleries, keys, fact sheets, screening aids, pest alerts, molecular identification tools, and more. All groups of plant pests are represented. You can search this extensive collection by pest name (either common or scientific name) and at any taxonomic level, and then instantly refine your search with any type of keyword. IDaids are also available as links to search results on your organization’s website, or we can provide curated sets of IDaids on particular pests, topics, or types of IDaids for your website. Please submit IDaid collection requests on our contact page or email us directly at itp@usda.gov.

ITP focuses specifically on finding IDaids with valuable identification content; we do not seek to cover the control or management of plant pests, though many IDaids do include this information. Because of our focus on identification, your search results may include older resources. We do not as a rule exclude these, since morphology of pest organisms does not generally become outdated. That said, we do aim to present the latest pest names and taxonomy. Please let us know if you encounter an IDaid you feel is inappropriate or not useful.
 

Disclaimers

The findings and conclusions in this website have not been formally disseminated by the USDA and should not be construed to represent agency determination or policy.

This website provides links to external sites for the convenience of users. ITP makes every attempt to keep links updated and usable. However, websites may get reorganized or updated, and the location of IDaids may change without notice. USDA, NCSU, and their subsidiaries are not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor do they explicitly endorse or warrant the products, services, or information described or offered by these sites.

While ITP has made every effort to provide accurate and useful information on the Search IDaids page and in the database behind it, USDA and NCSU specifically disclaim all legal liability with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information contained in this website. The authors and associated institutions shall assume no legal liability for any damages, including direct, indirect, consequential, compensatory, special, punitive, or incidental damages arising from or relating to the use of Search IDaids page or the information and materials linked from Search IDaids.