The EFSA Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst)
(Coleoptera: Curculionidae), for the EU. C. nenuphar is a well-defined species, recognised as a serious
pest of stone and pome fruit in the USA and Canada where it also feeds on a range of other hosts
including soft fruit (e.g. Ribes, Fragaria) and wild plants (e.g. Crataegus). Adults, which are not good
flyers, feed on tender twigs, flower buds and leaves. Females oviposit into host fruit; if oviposition
occurs in young fruit, the fruit usually falls prematurely reducing yield; oviposition in older fruit causes
surface blemishes and the fruit distorts as it develops reducing marketability. Larvae develop within
host fruit but exit to pupate in soil. Adults overwinter in leaf litter. C. nenuphar is not known to occur
in the EU and is listed in Annex IAI of Council Directive 2000/29/EC. Fruit infested shortly before
harvest and soil with leaf litter accompanying plants for planting could potentially provide a pathway
into the EU. Considering the climatic similarities between North America and Europe, and that hosts
occur widely within the EU, C. nenuphar has potential to establish within the EU. There could be one
or two generations per year, as in North America. Impacts could be expected, e.g. in Prunus spp. and
apples. Phytosanitary measures are available to reduce the likelihood of introduction of C. nenuphar.
All of the criteria assessed by EFSA for consideration as a potential Union quarantine pest are met.
C. nenuphar does not meet the criteria of occurring in the EU nor plants for planting being the
principal means of spread. Hence it does not satisfy all of the criteria that are within the remit of EFSA
to assess for it to be regarded as a Union regulated non-quarantine pest (RNQP)