Produced by the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS). To join IAPPS and receive the Crop Protection journal online go to: www.plantprotection.org
A Review of Digital Identification Tools for Plant Biosecurity
Geoff Norton and Matt Taylor have been part of a team that has recently published this Review. The 11 authors include members of a team involved in a ‘Quadrilateral’ project (USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) on Digital Identification Tools, as well as other authors from Europe and China. This Review is freely available as a pdf download as well as an online publication via the website of the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences. The online version allows the review to be translated to local languages via Google Translate.
News from IAPPS, The International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences
From Geoff Norton, President, IAPPS. (Also added as a PDF to preserve the photos)
New Language Options on the IAPPS Website
IAPPS members and other visitors to the IAPPS website will see that Google translate has recently been added, enabling non-English speaking visitors to read most of the material on the site in their local language. Whenever possible, our intention will be to post new material on the website as html, allowing for local language translation.
To access this translation facility, click on the “Translate” button and choose the relevant flag symbol associated with your local language. Note: a list of languages at the bottom of the screen provides an alternative means of selecting a language.
While making most of the current information on the website available to visitors with limited English, this translation facility offers a broader service to plant protection worldwide. Three examples, that can be accessed via www.plantprotection.org – Resources – Education and Training, illustrate this point:
1. “A Brief History of Plant Protection”, was initially posted on the “Education and Training/Plant Protection Stories” section of the IAPPS website, as two English language pdf documents.
Starting with the early beginnings in subsistence agriculture, we examine various case studies that illustrate the many economic, technical, social, and regulatory factors that have influenced the development, effectiveness and problems associated with modern plant protection strategies.
This plant protection story is now available as a website document, that allows users to take advantage of Google translate to view the tutorial in their own language.
2. “A Review of Digital Identification Tools for Plant Biosecurity”, a publication involving 11 experts from 6 countries, hasrecently been postedon the IAPPS site. It is freely available as an English pdf version as well as a website version, which can be translated into any of the Google languages and made available to a much wider audience. 3. A series of digital pathway keys for identifying insects and spiders found in rice in West Africa (see IAPPS Newsletter January 2023) has now been convertedfrom English to French by Dr Souleymane Nacro (IAPPS West Africa Board member). Dr Nacro used Google translate to initially convert the keys to French, then checked and edited this initial translation, using appropriate French taxonomic terms. This French version of the digital keys will be made freely available on the same IAPPS site.
IAPPS members and other visitors to the IAPPS website will see that Google translate has recently been added, enabling non-English speaking visitors to read most of the material on the site in their local language. Whenever possible, our intention will be to post new material on the website as html, allowing for local language translation.
To access this translation facility, click on the “Translate” button and choose the relevant flag symbol associated with your local language. Note: a list of languages at the bottom of the screen provides an alternative means of selecting a language.
While making most of the current information on the website available to visitors with limited English, this translation facility offers a broader service to plant protection worldwide. Three examples, that can be accessed via http://www.plantprotection.org – Resources – Education and Training, illustrate this point:
“A Brief History of Plant Protection”, was initially posted on the “Education and Training/Plant Protection Stories” section of the IAPPS website, as two English language pdf documents.
Starting with the early beginnings in subsistence agriculture, we examine various case studies that illustrate the many economic, technical, social, and regulatory factors that have influenced the development, effectiveness and problems associated with modern plant protection strategies. This plant protection story is now available as a website document, that allows users to take advantage of Google translate to view the tutorial in their own language.
“A Review of Digital Identification Tools for Plant Biosecurity”, a publication involving 11 experts from 6 countries, has recently been posted on the IAPPS site. It is freely available as an English pdf version as well as a website version, which can be translated into any of the Google languages and made available to a much wider audience.
“A series of digital pathway keys for identifying insects and spiders found in rice in West Africa”(see IAPPS Newsletter January 2023) has now been converted from English to French by Dr Souleymane Nacro (IAPPS West Africa Board member). Dr Nacro used Google translate to initially convert the keys to French, then checked and edited this initial translation, using appropriate French taxonomic terms. This French version of the digital keys will be made freely available on the same IAPPS site.
The Crop Sprayer mobile app is the latest tool in the PlantwisePlus Toolkit. The free app helps users apply just the right amount of pesticide to treat and protect crops from pests.
A farmer tending her crops in Cambodia. Image: CABI
Growth in pesticide use
Farmers lose up to 40% of their crops to pests and diseases. The increase in devastating species, such as the fall armyworm, papaya mealybug and tomato pinworm, has led to a growth in pesticide use among smallholder farmers. However, the misuse and overuse of chemicals can harm human health and the environment.
One solution for reducing pesticide risks is to follow an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy. IPM is a holistic and sustainable approach to pest control. It combines physical, cultural and chemical practices to economically control crop pests whilst minimising hazards. As such, IPM strategies aim to reduce the use of pesticides.
Careful use of pesticides
Farmer spraying crops. Image: CABI
IPM includes the use of pesticides, but only after monitoring indicates action thresholds have been exceeded. Applying the correct pesticide at the recommended dose is very important to minimise risks to human health, beneficial and nontarget organisms, and the environment.
This is when the Crop Sprayer app can be of benefit. Through the app, users can quickly work out simple calculations, including how much pesticide to put in their sprayer, how much pesticide they need in total, and how many tanks they require for an area.
When is it appropriate to incorporate pesticides into an IPM strategy, and how can the Crop Sprayer app help?
Identification and monitoring of pests
The first step in IPM is to identify and monitor the pest. Understanding the pest species, its behaviour, and its life cycle can help determine whether non-chemical methods alone are sufficient or if pesticide intervention is required.
Threshold levels are predetermined pest population levels at which a farmer should take action to prevent economic or environmental damage. Utilising thresholds helps prevent unnecessary pesticide applications and ensures that treatments are targeted and effective.
Selective pesticides
When pesticides are deemed necessary, farmers should choose products that target the specific pest. Selective pesticides, also known as soft pesticides, reduce the risk of disrupting natural predator-prey relationships.
Pesticide resistance management
Pesticide resistance is a significant concern in pest management. Overreliance on a single pesticide can lead, over time, to resistance in pest populations, rendering the pesticide ineffective.
Using pesticides strategically and sparingly can help slow down pesticide resistance. Farmers can do this by rotating between chemical modes of action and employing other non-chemical control methods, such as biocontrols.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of pest problem
Assessing the potential economic losses from the pest problem compared to the costs associated with pesticide application allows farmers to understand if the economic benefits of pesticides outweigh the costs. Cost considerations include the product, application equipment and labour.
Using the Crop Sprayer app
A workshop participant using the Crop Sprayer app. Image: CABI
If a farmer decides it is appropriate to use pesticides as part of their IPM strategy, then the Crop Sprayer app can help with the often tricky calculations. The app supports farmers and agricultural advisors, ensuring they can calibrate the output of their sprayers and purchase and use the right amount of pesticide. Not only does this help tackle issues around misuse and overuse, but it also means farmers do not have unused pesticides left over. Leftover chemicals cost the farmer money unnecessarily, as well as pose challenges with pesticide disposal.
About the Crop Sprayer app
The Crop Sprayer App is free for everyone to download and use and is available in English, French, Spanish, Swahili and Bengali.
Users require an Android smartphone or tablet with enough storage space for the app and access to the internet to download the app from the Google Play Store.
Once downloaded, the app works offline. However, a stable internet connection and sufficient storage space on your device are needed for any updates released by CABI.
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw== The new Crop Sprayer mobile app
CABI Bioprotection Portal
The CABI BioProtection Portal can be used alongside the Crop Sprayer App as it provides up-to-date information to identify, source and apply registered microbial biopesticide products in a given country, thereby supporting the rational application of nature-based pest management solutions.
Rice is one of the most important food crops for billions of people but the plants are susceptible to a wide variety of diseases that are not always easy to identify in the field. New work in the International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation has investigated whether an application based on a convolution neural network algorithm could be used to quickly and effectively determine what is afflicting a crop, especially in the early stages when signs and symptoms may well be ambiguous.
Manoj Agrawal and Shweta Agrawal of Sage University in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, suggest that an automated method for rice disease identification is much needed. They have now trained various machine learning tools with more than 4,000 images of healthy and diseased rice and tested them against disease data from different sources. They demonstrated that the ResNet50 architecture offers the greatest accuracy at 97.5%.
The system can determine from a photograph of a sample of the crop whether or not it is diseased and if so, can then identify which of the following common diseases that affect rice the plant has: Leaf Blast, Brown Spot, Sheath Blight, Leaf Scald, Bacterial Leaf Blight, Rice Blast, Neck Blast, False Smut, Tungro, Stem Borer, Hispa, and Sheath Rot.
Overall, the team’s approach is 98.2% accurate on independent test images. Such accuracy is sufficient to guide farmers to make an appropriate response to a given infection in their crop and thus save both their crop and their resources rather than wasting produce or money on ineffective treatments.
The team emphasizes that the system works well irrespective of the lighting conditions when the photograph is taken or the background in the photograph. They add that accuracy might still be improved by adding more images to the training dataset to help the application make predictions from photos taken in disparate conditions.
More information: Shweta Agrawal et al, Rice plant diseases detection using convolutional neural networks, International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation (2022). DOI: 10.1504/IJESMS.2022.10044308
The correct identification of insect pests and their natural enemies is critical for developing sound and sustainable pest management strategies: this is particularly so for rice. In the 1960’s, a comprehensive rice insect pest and natural enemy collection was established at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, with the aim of helping those in national rice research programs to identify rice arthropods.
A similar project was begun in West Africa in 1990, establishing a rice insect and natural enemy collection at WARDA (West African Rice Development Association), which subsequently became AfricaRice.
Associated with both of these collections, dichotomous keys were developed and published in the following books on rice arthropods: Biology and Management of Rice Insects, edited by E. A. Heinrichs (1994) and published by IRRI, and Rice Feeding Insects and Selected Natural Enemies in West Africa, authored by E. A. Heinrichs and Alberto Barrion (2002).
While the printed versions of both books have been out-of-print for several years, a recent upgrade of the Lucid software program, which makes it possible to convert paper-based, dichotomous keys to interactive pathway keys, means that both keys are now freely available to use on the Internet, courtesy of IAPPS (International Association for the Plant Protection Scientists) at: http://www.plantprotection.org
Adding arthropod images: Note that the IRRI key now includes a large number of color images of important insect pests and natural enemies. E.A. Heinrichs (eheinrichs2@unl.edu) would appreciate any good resolution images that colleagues would be willing to submit for adding to the key – with due acknowledgement
The correct identification of insect pests and their natural enemies is critical for developing sound and sustainable pest management strategies. As agriculture intensified and insect pests became more problematic, identification of major insect pests and their natural enemies became increasingly relevant when designing appropriate pest management strategies, especially for rice.
Appointed as the first entomologist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines, Dr. Mano D. Pathak, established a comprehensive rice insect pest and natural enemy collection in the early 1960s. The aim was to support national rice research programs identify specimens in their own rice arthropod collections. Subsequently, to support this objective, a dichotomous key to over 862 species was published in the chapter Taxonomy of Rice Insect Pests and their Arthropod Parasites and Predators, authored by insect and spider taxonomist, Alberto T. Barrion, with James A. Litsinger, in the book, Biology and Management of Rice Insects,edited by E. A. Heinrichs and published by IRRI in 1994.
In the 1990s, a similar collection program was begun to establish a rice insect and natural enemy collection at WARDA (West African Rice Development Association), now AfricaRice. Specimens of major insect pests and natural enemies found in West African rice were identified by Dr Barrion, who then created an illustrated, dichotomous identification key which was published in the book, Rice Feeding Insects and Selected Natural Enemies in West Africa, authored by E. A. Heinrichs and Alberto Barrion (2002).
Since the printed versions of both books have been out-of-print for several years, a recent upgrade of the Lucid software program https://www.lucidcentral.org provided the possibility of creating interactive, digital versions of both keys. Initially developed for creating matrix identification keys, the Lucid builder now enables paper-based dichotomous keys to be converted and “published” as online, interactive pathway keys. Courtesy of IAPPS, the IRRI and West African keys are now freely available online. You can access them here. Please note that we will soon add 450 photos of rice insect pests and their natural enemies to the Taxonomy of Rice Insect Pests and their Arthropod Parasites and Predators key. For further information, please email support@plantprotection.org
Web-based tool helps blueberry growers control disease
Anthracnose fruit rot plagues blueberries, especially in Florida. In fact, it’s among the fruit’s most damaging diseases. To manage the disease, farmers normally spray the crop with fungicides, but on a calendar basis, in other words, every two or three weeks.
So, a few years ago, University of Florida scientists developed the Blueberry Advisory System, a tool to help blueberry growers fight fruit rot through a system of alerts. Now, researchers have proof the system works to help minimize fruit rot and improve crop yields.
When flowers and fruit are developing, many farmers use a calendar-based method to spray their plants to protect against the rot. With the Blueberry Advisory System, they spray when the tool sends them alerts. Notifications are received via text or email.
Growers can also use the risk assessments to choose whether to use a less-expensive fungicide when they encounter moderate disease risk or a more effective but also more expensive product during high-risk periods.
“Several Florida commercial blueberry growers have reported using the Blueberry Advisory System to help with the timing of fungicides to control anthracnose fruit rot, either by using the web-based tool alone or in combination with farmers’ own spray programs,” said Doug Phillips, UF/IFAS statewide blueberry Extension coordinator.
Clyde Fraisse, a UF/IFAS professor of agricultural and biological engineering, designed the Agroclimate system that hosts this and other disease tools. Natalia Peres, a plant pathology professor at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, adapted and evaluated the disease models used in the system.
Peres outlines the success of the method in a new UF/IFAS Extension document.
“The system can be especially useful in helping newer blueberry growers identify the disease and its dynamics,” Peres said. “It may also reduce the number of fungicide applications, especially when adopted by growers who are risk averse.”
She and her research colleagues assessed the system at nine blueberry farms spread out over Dade City (Pasco County), Fort Lonesome (Hillsborough County), and Labelle (Hendry County).
The results were good. The system notified growers to spray fungicide when fruit rot was more likely to develop, and in most cases, they didn’t need to apply the sprays as often.
Any method that helps fight disease is vital to the efforts of Florida farmers who grow blueberries. The season (from bloom through harvest) runs between December and May and includes about 5,500 acres, with an annual value of $62 million.
Blueberries are most susceptible to fruit rot in warm, wet weather, with temperatures between 59 and 81 degrees. Combine those conditions with 12-hour periods of leaf wetness, and you get ideal conditions for fruit rot to develop.
Data for the fruit rot models used by the system come from the Florida Automated Weather Network, which has weather stations throughout the state.
Rainfall or overhead irrigation can compound the problem by spreading the pathogen to healthy fruit and plants, creating additional opportunities for infection. The pathogen can also be spread by fruits touching each other and from harvesting machinery and sorting equipment.
These days – whether it’s due to covid or other reasons – growers often have less staff at their farms. But when under pressure to deliver more with less, digitizing and expediating manual tasks is key to optimizing labor.
The FarmRoad mobile app aims to streamline crop scouting and crop registration so your team can work faster without pens or clipboards. Record crop measurements, pest numbers, and disease outbreaks using your phone. Upload photos, type comments then instantly share with your team so you can act fast to address the issues.
Speed up and simplify crop data capture The FarmRoad mobile app provides a simple solution to streamlining crop scouting tasks. The app works on both phones and tablets and collects data on:
Pests
Beneficial insects
Pest traps
Plant diseases
Plant disorders
Record pest types and infestation locations Understanding pest pressure relies on comprehensive monitoring of different types of pests (e.g., whitefly, thrips) and their numbers. Use the FarmRoad mobile app to log the location of infestations and record pest types and their prevalence to evaluate the effectiveness of your beneficial insects.
Collect pest trap data faster Insect traps are essential to directly reduce the populations of the insects and other anthropods that affect your crop. Using traps as part of your pest management reduces the need for pesticides. Use the FarmRoad mobile app to collect pest trap data faster.
Document plant disease threats Managing plant disease outbreaks keeps every grower on their toes. Monitoring environmental conditions and pathogen transmission at your farm enables you to track outbreaks to keep them under control. Use the FarmRoad mobile app to upload photos, dates and write comments to keep your team updated on disease occurrences in your greenhouse.
Faster identification and communication of potential crop problems Crop scouting is necessary to keep plants healthy and to prevent pests or pathogens from reaching dangerous levels. Arm your team of scouts with the app to record crop threats at precise locations. Staff can upload photos, comment, and share immediately so swift remedial action can be taken.
Visualize and track your scouting info Scouting data collected with the FarmRoad Mobile app is visualized inside the FarmRoad platform. Graphing crop information helps you spot trends and patterns in the lifecycle of your crop.
Digitize crop measurements Collecting regular crop measurements helps agronomists and farm managers understand how to steer the growth of their plants. Use the FarmRoad mobile app to digitize over 20 crop measurements with your phone to speed up crop registration.
Identification and Diagnostic Tools Lucid May 2022 Newsletter Introduction Last year we released a major Lucid v4 update that allows authors to build new dichotomous keys or to import existing paper-based keys and transform them to online, interactive keys. A recent example of such a conversion concerns a series of keys to insects and spiders that can be found in rice in West Africa. The original book in which these keys were published – E A Heinrichs and Alberto T Barrion (2004) Rice-feeding insects and selected natural enemies in West Africa: Biology, ecology, identification, has been out of print for a number of years. Fortunately a digital copy was published online by the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, providing the digital text and figures for the conversion of these keys to Lucid, and are now hosted on Lucidcentral. A similar key to rice pests found in S.E. Asia is to be published shortly. This will be one of the largest dichotomous keys we’ve come across: 852 couplets and 1740 leads, covering 862 taxa! It’s also pleasing to see how many new and diverse keys have just been released. This includes commercial timber identification, sawflies, tropical ferns and lycophytes, Calanoid Copepods, trees of the Diamantina located in Serra do Espinhaço, Brazil, a place recognized by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, and finally, a key used by police forensic units for the identification of third instar larvae of 12 species of Calliphoridae. We hope you enjoy reading our latest newsletter. Regards, The Lucid Team Spotlight on Lucid keys supporting plant taxonomy at Missouri Botanical Garden While most Lucid identification keys aim to provide public access to taxonomic and diagnostic expertise (via online and mobile apps), there are situations where Lucid keys can be used to support the taxonomic process itself. This spotlight article illustrates how Lucid is being used by Dr Tom Croat at the Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, USA to support the taxonomic work of his team, as well as providing an online identification aid. Tom Croat with the 100,000th collection Anthurium centimillissimum photo by Dan Levin. For many years, Tom’s taxonomic work has focussed on the philodendron or aroid family (Araceae). The genera of this family are often large and morphologically challenging, particularly the genus Anthurium, possibly the world’s largest genus with over 3,000 species. As Tom puts it – “Araceae is a family with still thousands of undescribed species: the only way one can deal with such large groups is to use Lucid. Without Lucid, I could not deal with it, since there are now 1650 species in Lucid keys for Anthurium. We also have Lucid Keys for Adelonema, Dieffenbachia, Dracontium, Philodendron and Stenospermation. Current work is on constructing a key for Spathiphyllum”. Over the years, Tom has collected more than 109,000 herbarium collections, more than 10,000 living plants, and maintains the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of living aroid plants in the Garden’s greenhouses. Lucid matrix keys are initially used as a means of “cataloguing” new species that are introduced to the collection. The major taxonomic features of the living plants, as well as of dried herbarium specimens, are described in detail. The characters (more than 100 in all) are recorded into the existing Lucid Matrix, and new feature/states are added as necessary, together with their respective scores. With the recent availability of the new dichotomous (pathway) key construction option, that has recently been upgraded and incorporated in the Lucid Builder software, Tom thinks there may be new opportunities here. “Having a Lucid dichotomous key would allow us to prepare keys to separate species in many groups that remain poorly known. While the Lucid matrix key enables us to select species that have already been incorporated into the key, a dichotomous key allows one to decide where a given species needs to be placed that is not already in the key. Moreover, published revisions are expected to have dichotomous keys that are an integral part of the revision, so a Lucid Key, workable as it might be, will not serve that purpose. Thus, it is important that the Lucid Program should provide a means whereby a dichotomous key can be constructed from the existing taxonomic data stored within it. There are a number of large genera in Araceae, where we have 250 or more species. A dichotomous key allows one to visualize where new elements should fit and then one can decide if it should be fully described and entered into the Lucid matrix key”. Tom has been in touch with us regarding further ideas he has on how both Lucid matrix and dichotomous keys might be adapted to help in this taxonomic process, which we are looking into. For further information about Tom’s work go to a recent publication – Araceae, a Family with Great Potential February 2019 Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 104(1):3-9 Latest keys Sawfly GenUS This latest release from the Identification Technology Program (ITP) within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) includes a wealth of information about sawflies, keys to sawfly genera of North America, as well as keys to Sirex species of the World. https://idtools.org/id/sawfly/ — Brazilian Commercial Timbers – Interactive wood identification key This is an interactive key created to identify timbers commonly traded in Brazil. The identification is based on general characters and macroscopic anatomical features of wood. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/search/madeiras-comerciais-do-brasil/This key is available in English and Portuguese. — Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes is a fern and lycophyte identification and information system for species occurring in northern Australia. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/search/australian-tropical-ferns-and-lycophytes/Also available as an Android or iOS app. — Keys to the Calanoid Copepods These keys are looking to facilitate the identification of calanoid copepods (adult specimens (males and/or females)) to the level of family in the first instance and to the level of genera for the group of copepods known as the ‘Bradfordians’ and the families Centropagidae, Calanidae and Megacalanidae. Developed by scientists in the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand and CSIRO, Australia. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/search/calanoid-copepods/ — Tubulifera Australiensis In the insect Order Thysanoptera, the suborder Tubulifera includes only a single family of living thrips, the Phlaeothripidae, and this family includes at least 66% of the thrips species known from Australia. This illustrated Lucid identification system helps to distinguish the 150 genera of Phlaeothripidae recorded from Australia. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/search/tubulifera-australiensis/ — Diamantina trees Interactive identification key to trees that occur in and around Diamantina. Diamantina is located in Serra do Espinhaço, Brazil, a place recognized by UNESCO as one of the Biosphere Reserves. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/search/diamantina-trees/ — A tool for identifying insects and spiders in West African Rice Keys to insects found in rice in 17 West African countries provides online help to identify specimens in rice insect collections and collected from the field. These are the first comprehensive taxonomic keys to West African rice arthropods and provide illustrations for 275 species of insects and 69 species of spiders associated with rice agroecosystems https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/west_african_rice_insects_and_spiders/ — Interactive identification key for third instar larvae of Calliphoridae (Insecta, Diptera) of Neotropical forensic importance This key was developed to allow the identification of third instar larvae of 12 species of Calliphoridae (Insecta, Diptera, Oestroidea) of forensic importance that can be found in Brazil and in the Neotropical region. It was developed with the aim of helping police experts, students, and various professionals with, who may have limited familiarity with taxonomy, to obtain a safe and reliable diagnosis. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/search/chave-larva-calliphoridae/This key is available in English and Portuguese.— Software Updates Lucid v4 A new update of Lucid v4 (4.0.25 20220503) has been released and is available to download via Lucidcentral.org. See the release notes for bug fixes and changes. https://apps.lucidcentral.org/lucid4/updates.htmlDownload (login required) via:https://www.lucidcentral.org/my-account/downloads/A new update of Fact Sheet Fusion will be released at the end of May. Modify your subscription | View onlineLucidcentral.org https://www.lucidcentral.org Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.
The system can be especially useful in helping newer blueberry growers identify the disease and its dynamics,” Peres said. “It may also reduce the number of fungicide applications, especially when adopted by growers who are risk averse.”
Latest keys 
Sawfly GenUS This latest release from the Identification Technology Program (ITP) within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) includes a wealth of information about sawflies, keys to sawfly genera of North America, as well as keys to Sirex species of the World. 
Brazilian Commercial Timbers – Interactive wood identification key This is an interactive key created to identify timbers commonly traded in Brazil. The identification is based on general characters and macroscopic anatomical features of wood. 
Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes is a fern and lycophyte identification and information system for species occurring in northern Australia. 
Tubulifera Australiensis In the insect Order Thysanoptera, the suborder Tubulifera includes only a single family of living thrips, the Phlaeothripidae, and this family includes at least 66% of the thrips species known from Australia. This illustrated Lucid identification system helps to distinguish the 150 genera of Phlaeothripidae recorded from Australia. 
Diamantina trees Interactive identification key to trees that occur in and around Diamantina. Diamantina is located in Serra do Espinhaço, Brazil, a place recognized by UNESCO as one of the Biosphere Reserves. 
Keys to insects found in rice in 17 West African countries provides online help to identify specimens in rice insect collections and collected from the field. These are the first comprehensive taxonomic keys to West African rice arthropods and provide illustrations for 275 species of insects and 69 species of spiders associated with rice agroecosystems 
Interactive identification key for third instar larvae of Calliphoridae (Insecta, Diptera) of Neotropical forensic importance This key was developed to allow the identification of third instar larvae of 12 species of Calliphoridae (Insecta, Diptera, Oestroidea) of forensic importance that can be found in Brazil and in the Neotropical region. It was developed with the aim of helping police experts, students, and various professionals with, who may have limited familiarity with taxonomy, to obtain a safe and reliable diagnosis. 
Lucid v4 A new update of Lucid v4 (4.0.25 20220503) has been released and is available to download via Lucidcentral.org. See the release notes for bug fixes and changes. 
A new update of Fact Sheet Fusion will be released at the end of May. 
Global Plant Protection News 