**United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service**  **Plant Protection and Quarantine**



## Pacaya **( Chamaedorea tepejilote Liebm**  **. )**  **from Guatemala** 

**into the Continental**  **United States Risk Management Document** 

**Janu ary**  **1 8**  **, 20 12** 

**Plant Health Programs (PHP) R**  **egulations, Permits and Manuals (**  **R P**  **M )**  **Contact Person: Claudia Ferguson** 2

**Introduction** In response to a request for market access to import fresh immature inflorescences of pacaya, Chamaedorea tepejilote L iebm., into the continental United States from El Salvador , the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHI S) prepared a pest risk assessment (PRA) as per the Guidelines for Pathway -Initiated Pest Risk Assessment (USDA. 2000) . The PRA included information from other countries in the growing region in the analy sis, particularly Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Since pacay a has never been a significant agronomic commodity in Central America , little information exists about its production and pest problems. Thus, APHI S included information from other countries in the growing region in the analy sis, particularly Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Inaddition, confusion exists about the taxonomy of pacay a palm, so APHI S included information about three other taxa in the PRA as well: 1) Chamaedorea sp., 2) C. alterans , which has frequently been confused with C. tepejilote (Bacon and Bailey , 2006), an d 3) C. costaricacannse, which is sometimes referred to as a pacaya in the literature. The pest risk assessment document, Importation of Fresh Immature Inflorescences of Pacaya, Chamaedorea tepejilote Liebm m , from El Salvador into the Continental United States, found two quarantine pest s likely to follow the pathway

of immature inflorescences of pacay a imported from Central America (USDA. 200 9 ) . The pests that follow the pathway are : Brooksithrips chamaedoreae Retana & Mound (Thy sanoptera: Thripidae) thri ps Sarasinula plebeia (Fischer) (Sy stellommatophora: Veronicellidae) Caribbean leatherleaf slug The PRA determined that the pest risk is **Medium** for Sarasinula plebeia and **Low** for Brooksithrips chamaedoreae . Pests assigned a L ow Pest Risk Potential ty pic ally do not require specific mitigation measures as port - of - entry inspection is expected to provide sufficient phy tosanitary security . For pests with a Medium Pest Risk Potential, specific phy tosan itary measures may

be necessary . Risk mitigations required will include: port of entry inspection, commercial shipments only , and inspection by

the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO ) and phy tosanitary certificate (PC) indicating the commodity has been inspected and no pests are present is required. **Ri sk Management Measures**  The following risk management measures must be followed for pacay a from Guatemala to be imported into the United States:

 Pacay a must be imported as commercial shipments only .3

 Each consignment of p acay a must be accompanied by a phy tosanitary certificate issued by NPPO of the exporting country stating that the p acay a in the consignment has been inspected and is free of Brooksithrips chamaedoreae and Sarasinula plebeia .  Each shipment is subject to inspection upon arrival at port of e ntry to the United States. **Conclusion** APHI S believes that the phy tosanitary measures proposed in this document will result in the effective removal of any potential quarantine pests associated with the importation of fresh pacay a from Central America . S arasinula plebeia is a slug, and it is unlikely that this pest will remain in commercial shipments that have been inspected by the NPPO. This pest is normally considered to be a hitchhiking pest by APHI S, and one that in spite of medium pest risk rating i s easily inspected for. The other pest, Brooksithrips chamaedoreae , is rated low in the PRA, and according to the PRA guidelines (APHI S, 2000), p ests assigned a Low Pest Risk Potential ty pically do not require specific mitigation measures as port - of - entr y inspection is expected to provide sufficient phy

tosanitary security . In spection is considered effective at finding these two external feeding pests upon inspection and excluding infested shipments from entering commerce ( Cavey , 2003 ; Wittenberg and Cock , 2001 ). **Author** Walter P. Gould Senior Risk Manager **References:** Bacon, C. D., and C. D. Bailey . 2006. Taxonomy and Conservation: A Case Study from Chamaedorea alternans . Annals of Botany 98:755 - 763. Cavey , J.F. 2003. Mitigating introduction of i nvasive plant pests: the APHI S - PPQ Mission. From: Chapter 13, pp. 350 - 361 in Ruiz, G.M and J.T. Carlton. 2003. I nvasive species: vectors and management strategies. Is land Press, Washington, D.C. 518p. USDA. 2000. Guidelines for Pathway - In itiated Pest Risk Assessments, Version 5.02. USDA APHI S, PPQ . Permits and Risk Assessment . Commodity Risk Analy sis Branch . 30 pp. USDA. 200 9 . Importation of Fresh Immature Inflorescences of Pacay a, Chamaedorea tepejilote Li ebm., from El Salvador into the Co ntinental United States. A Qualitative, Pathway - In itiated Pest Risk Assessment. USDA, APHI S, CPHST, PERAL , Raleigh, NC. 49 pp. Wittenberg, R. and M.J.W. Cock. 2001. Invasive Alien Species: A toolkit of best prevention and management practices. CABI pub lishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. 228 pp.