List of globally invasive species
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(Redirected from List of the world's 100 worst invasive species)
This is a list of 100 of the "worst" invasive species in the Global Invasive Species Database.[1] The IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), which maintains the list, acknowledges that "It is very difficult to identify 100 invasive species from around the world that really are 'worse' than any others."[1]
Contents
Criteria for inclusion
Two criteria were used in selecting items for the list:
- An invasive species' "serious impact on biological diversity and/or human activities"; and
- That species' "illustration of important issues surrounding biological invasion".[1]
According to the ISSG, "only one species from each genus was selected. Absence from the list does not imply that a species poses a lesser threat."[1]
100 of the World's Worst Invasive Species
| Species | Type | Common names |
|---|---|---|
| Acacia mearnsii | shrub | Black wattle, Australian acacia |
| Achatina fulica | mollusc | Giant African land snail, giant African snail |
| Acridotheres tristis | bird | Common myna, Calcutta myna, house myna, Indian myna, martin triste, talking myna |
| Aedes albopictus | insect | Asian tiger mosquito, forest day mosquito, tiger mosquito |
| Anopheles quadrimaculatus | insect | Common malaria mosquito |
| Anoplolepis gracilipes | insect | Yellow crazy ant, crazy ant, gramang ant, long-legged ant, Maldive ant |
| Anoplophora glabripennis | insect | Asian long-horned beetle, starry sky beetle |
| Aphanomyces astaci | protozoan | Crayfish plague |
| Ardisia elliptica | tree | Shoebutton Ardisia |
| Arundo donax | grass | Giant cane, arundo grass, bamboo reed, cane, cow cane, donax cane, giant reed, reedgrass, river cane, Spanish cane, Spanish reed, wild cane |
| Asterias amurensis | sea star | Northern Pacific seastar, flatbottom seastar, Japanese seastar, Japanese starfish, North Pacific seastar, purple-orange seastar |
| Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) | virus | Banana bunchy top disease, BBTD, abaca bunchy top virus, BBTV, bunchy top, bunchy top virus |
| Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis | fungus | "Bd," chytrid frog fungi, chytridiomycosis, frog chytrid fungus |
| Bemisia tabaci | insect | Cotton whitefly, sweet potato whitefly, sweetpotato whitefly |
| Boiga irregularis | reptile | Brown catsnake, brown tree snake, brown treesnake |
| Bufo marinus = Rhinella marina | amphibian | Cane toad, bufo toad, bullfrog, giant American toad, giant neotropical toad, giant toad, marine toad, Suriname toad |
| Capra hircus | mammal | Goat |
| Carcinus maenas | crustacean | European green crab, European shore crab, green crab, shore crab |
| Caulerpa taxifolia | alga | Killer Alga(e) |
| Cecropia peltata | tree | Faux-ricin, pumpwood, trumpet tree, snakewood |
| Cercopagis pengoi | crustacean | Fishhook waterflea |
| Cervus elaphus | mammal | Red deer, deer, elk, European red deer |
| Chromolaena odorata | herb | Siam weed, bitter bush, Christmas bush, devil weed, camfhur grass, common floss flower, jack in the bush, triffid |
| Cinara cupressi | insect | Cypress aphid |
| Cinchona pubescens | tree | Red cinchona |
| Clarias batrachus | fish | Walking catfish, clarias catfish, climbing perch, freshwater catfish, Thailand catfish |
| Clidemia hirta | shrub | Koster's curse, faux vatouk, soap bush, soapbush |
| Coptotermes formosanus | insect | Formosa termite, Formosan subterranean termite |
| Cryphonectria parasitica | fungus | Chestnut blight |
| Cyprinus carpio | fish | Common carp, European carp, fancy carp, feral carp, German carp, grass carp, Japanese domesticated carp, king carp, koi, koi carp, leather carp, mirror carp, Oriental carp, scale carp, wild carp |
| Dreissena polymorpha | mollusc | Eurasian zebra mussel, wandering mussel, zebra mussel |
| Eichhornia crassipes | aquatic plant | Water hyacinth, floating water hyacinth, water orchid |
| Eleutherodactylus coqui | amphibian | Caribbean tree frog, common coqui, coqui, Puerto Rican treefrog |
| Eriocheir sinensis | crustacean | Chinese mitten crab, big sluice crab, Chinese freshwater edible crab, Chinese river crab, Shanghai hairy crab |
| Euglandina rosea | mollusc | Cannibal snail, rosy wolf snail |
| Euphorbia esula | herb | Leafy spurge, green spurge, spurge, wolf's milk |
| Fallopia japonica = Polygonum cuspidatum | shrub | Crimson beauty, donkey rhubarb, fleeceflower, German sausage, Japanese bamboo, Japanese fleece flower, Japanese knotweed, Japanese polygonum, kontiki bamboo, Mexican-bamboo, peashooter plant, reynoutria fleece flower, sally rhubarb |
| Felis catus | mammal | Cat, domestic cat, feral cat, house cat |
| Gambusia affinis | fish | Mosquitofish, guayacon mosquito, live-bearing tooth-carp, mosquito fish, pez mosquito, western mosquitofish |
| Hedychium gardnerianum | herb | Ginger lily, kahila garland-lily, kahili ginger, wild ginger |
| Herpestes javanicus | mammal | Small Asian mongoose, small Indian mongoose |
| Hiptage benghalensis | shrub | Hiptage |
| Imperata cylindrica | grass | Blady grass, cogon grass, Japanese bloodgrass, speargrass |
| Lantana camara | shrub | Angel lips, big sage, blacksage, flowered sage, largeleaf lantana, prickly lantana, Spanish flag, West Indian Lantana, white sage, wild sage |
| Lates niloticus | fish | Nile perch, African snook, nile perch, Victoria perch |
| Leucaena leucocephala | tree | White leadtree, false koa, faux mimosa, faux-acacia, horse/wild tamarind, jumbie bean, lead tree, wild mimosa, wild tamarind |
| Ligustrum robustum | shrub | Bora-bora, Ceylon privét, Sri Lankan privet, tree privet |
| Linepithema humile | insect | Argentine ant |
| Lymantria dispar | insect | Asian gypsy moth, gypsy moth |
| Lythrum salicaria | herb | Purple loosestrife, purple lythrum, rainbow weed, spiked loosestrife |
| Macaca fascicularis | mammal | Crab-eating macaque, long-tailed macaque, lion-tailed macaque. |
| Melaleuca quinquenervia | tree | Paperbark teatree, bottle brush tree, broadleaf paperbark tree, broadleaf teatree, broad-leaved paperbark tree, five-veined paperbark tree, paper bark tree, punk tree, white bottlebrush tree |
| Miconia calvescens | tree | Bush currant, purple plague, velvet tree |
| Micropterus salmoides | fish | Largemouth bass, American black bass, bass, black bass, green bass, green trout, largemouth black bass, northern largemouth bass, stormundet black bass |
| Mikania micrantha | vine, climber | American rope, Chinese creeper, mile-a-minute weed |
| Mimosa pigra | shrub | Bashful plant, catclaw, catclaw mimosa, giant sensitive plant, giant trembling plant, mimosa |
| Mnemiopsis leidyi | comb jelly | American comb jelly, comb jelly, comb jellyfish, sea gooseberry, sea walnut, Venus' girdle, warty comb jelly |
| Mus musculus | mammal | Field mouse, house mouse, wood mouse |
| Mustela erminea | mammal | Stoat, ermine, short-tailed weasel |
| Myocastor coypus | mammal | Bewerrot, biberratte, coipù, coypu, nutria, ragondin |
| Morella faya | shrub | Candleberry myrtle, fayatree, fire tree, firebush |
| Mytilus galloprovincialis | mollusc | Bay mussel, blue mussel, Mediterranean mussel |
| Oncorhynchus mykiss | fish | Rainbow trout, Baja California rainbow trout, coast angel trout, coast rainbow trout, coast range trout, hardhead, Kamchatka steelhead, Kamchatka trout, Kamloops, Kamloops trout, lord-fish, redband, redband trout, salmon trout, silver trout, steelhead, steelhead trout, summer salmon |
| Ophiostoma ulmi sensu lato | fungus | Dutch elm disease |
| Opuntia stricta | shrub | Common prickly pear, Araluen pear, Australian pest pear, common pest pear, erect prickly pear, gayndah pear, sour prickly pear, spiny pest pear |
| Oreochromis mossambicus | fish | Tilapia, common tilapia, Java tilapia, kurper bream, Mozambique cichlid, Mozambique mouth-breeder, Mozambique mouthbrooder, Mozambique tilapia |
| Oryctolagus cuniculus | mammal | Rabbit |
| Pheidole megacephala | insect | Big-headed ant, brown house-ant, coastal brown-ant, lion ant |
| Phytophthora cinnamomi | fungus | Cinnamon fungus, green fruit rot, heart rot, phytophthora root rot, seedling blight, stem canker, wildflower dieback |
| Pinus pinaster | tree | Cluster pine, maritime pine |
| Plasmodium relictum | protozoan | Avian malaria |
| Platydemus manokwari | flatworm | New Guinea flatworm, flatworm, snail-eating flatworm |
| Pomacea canaliculata | mollusc | Apple snail, channeled apple snail, golden apple snail, golden kuhol, miracle snail |
| Potamocorbula amurensis | mollusc | Amur river clam, Amur river corbula, Asian bivalve, Asian clam, brackish-water corbula, Chinese clam, marine clam |
| Prosopis glandulosa | tree | Honey mesquite, mesquite, Texas mesquite |
| Psidium cattleianum | shrub | Cattley guava, cherry guava, Chinese guava, purple strawberry guava, strawberry guava |
| Pueraria montana var. lobata | vine | Japanese arrowroot, kudzu, kudzu vine |
| Pycnonotus cafer | bird | Red-vented bulbul |
| Lithobates catesbeiana | amphibian | Bullfrog, North American bullfrog |
| Rattus rattus | mammal | Black rat, blue rat, bush rat, European house rat, roof rat, ship rat |
| Rubus ellipticus | shrub | Asian wild raspberry, broad-leafed bramble, Ceylon blackberry, golden evergreen raspberry, Molucca berry, Molucca bramble, Molucca raspberry, robust blackberry, wild blackberry, wild raspberry, yellow Himalayan raspberry |
| Salmo trutta | fish | Brown trout, blacktail, brook trout, galway sea trout, herling, orange fin, orkney sea trout, salmon trout, sea trout, trout, whiting, whitling |
| Salvinia molesta | floating aquatic fern | Giant salvinia |
| Schinus terebinthifolius | tree | Brazilian holly, Brazilian pepper, Brazilian pepper tree, Christmas berry, Florida holly, Mexican pepper |
| Sciurus carolinensis | mammal | Gray squirrel, grey squirrel |
| Solenopsis invicta | insect | Red imported fire ant, RIFA |
| Spartina anglica | grass | Common cord grass, rice grass, Townsend's grass |
| Spathodea campanulata | tree | African tulip tree, fireball, flame of the forest, fountain tree, Indian cedar, Santo Domingo mahogany |
| Sphagneticola trilobata | herb | Creeping ox-eye, Singapore daisy, trailing daisy |
| Sturnus vulgaris | bird | Common starling, English starling, European starling |
| Sus scrofa | mammal | Wild boar, razorback |
| Tamarix ramosissima | shrub | Salt cedar |
| Trachemys scripta elegans | reptile | Red-eared slider, red-eared slider terrapin, slider |
| Trichosurus vulpecula | mammal | Brushtail possum |
| Trogoderma granarium | insect | Khapra beetle |
| Ulex europaeus | shrub | Gorse, Irish furze |
| Undaria pinnatifida | alga | Wakame, apron-ribbon vegetable, Asian kelp, Japanese kelp |
| Vespula vulgaris | insect | Common wasp, common yellowjacket |
| Vulpes vulpes | mammal | Red fox, black or cross fox |
| Wasmannia auropunctata | insect | Cocoa tree-ant, little fire ant, little introduced fire ant, little red fire ant, small fire ant, West Indian stinging ant |
