DNA barcoding as a useful tool in the systematic study of wild bees of the tribe Augochlorini (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Genome ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (10) ◽  
pp. 889-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Ana González-Vaquero ◽  
Arturo Roig-Alsina ◽  
Laurence Packer

Special care is needed in the delimitation and identification of halictid bee species, which are renowned for being morphologically monotonous. Corynura Spinola and Halictillus Moure (Halictidae: Augochlorini) contain species that are key elements in southern South American ecosystems. These bees are very difficult to identify due to close morphological similarity among species and high sexual dimorphism. We analyzed 170 barcode-compliant COI sequences from 19 species. DNA barcodes were useful to confirm gender associations and to detect two new cryptic species. Interspecific distances were significantly higher than those reported for other bees. Maximum intraspecific divergence was less than 1% in 14 species. Barcode index numbers (BINs) were useful to identify putative species that need further study. More than one BIN was assigned to five species. The name Corynura patagonica (Cockerell) probably refers to two cryptic species. The results suggest that Corynura and Halictillus species can be identified using DNA barcodes. The sequences of the species included in this study can be used as a reference to assess the identification of unknown specimens. This study provides additional support for the use of DNA barcodes in bee taxonomy and the identification of specimens, which is particularly relevant in insects of ecological importance such as pollinators.

Genome ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle A. Ondrejicka ◽  
Kevin C. Morey ◽  
Robert H. Hanner

Medically important ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) are often difficult to identify morphologically. A standardized, molecular approach using a 658 base pair DNA barcode sequence (from the 5′ region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene) was evaluated for its effectiveness in discriminating ticks in North America, with an emphasis on Canadian ticks. DNA barcodes were generated for 96 of 154 specimens representing 26 ixodid species. A genetic cluster analysis was performed on the barcode sequences, which separated specimens into haplogroups closely corresponding with morphologically identified species. The tree topology was further supported by a BIN analysis. COI sequences generated were found to have a mean maximum intraspecific divergence of 1.59% and a mean nearest neighbour divergence of 12.8%, indicating a significant “barcode gap”. This study also revealed possible cryptic diversity among specimens morphologically identified as Ixodes soricis and Ixodes texanus. A PCR-based test for Borrelia burgdorferi determined that 18.1% of Lyme-competent ticks in this study were positive. This study is also the first to record a B. burgdorferi-positive exoskeleton. In conclusion, DNA barcoding is a powerful tool that clinicians can use to determine the identification of tick specimens which can help them to suggest whether an attached tick is a potential health risk.


ZooKeys ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1062 ◽  
pp. 49-72
Author(s):  
Christian Schmid-Egger ◽  
Stefan Schmidt

The present study presents DNA barcoding results for 134 species of Central European Vespoidea, families Mutillidae, Myrmosidae, Sapygidae, Scoliidae, Tiphiidae, Thynnidae, and Vespidae, including DNA barcodes for 100 of the 114 German species. DNA barcoding resulted in unexpected diversity in several families, each with two or more genetic clusters identified by Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). Smicromyrme burgeri Schmid-Egger, sp. nov. and S. langobardensis Schmid-Egger, sp. nov. are described as new from Germany and Italy, respectively. A neotype is designated for Smicromyrme rufipes (Fabricius, 1878). The results of DNA barcoding are discussed in respect to detecting cryptic species and refining species limits.


2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1702) ◽  
pp. 20150328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. M. Baker ◽  
Leonora S. Bittleston ◽  
Jon G. Sanders ◽  
Naomi E. Pierce

DNA barcoding and metabarcoding methods have been invaluable in the study of interactions between host organisms and their symbiotic communities. Barcodes can help identify individual symbionts that are difficult to distinguish using morphological characters, and provide a way to classify undescribed species. Entire symbiont communities can be characterized rapidly using barcoding and especially metabarcoding methods, which is often crucial for isolating ecological signal from the substantial variation among individual hosts. Furthermore, barcodes allow the evolutionary histories of symbionts and their hosts to be assessed simultaneously and in reference to one another. Here, we describe three projects illustrating the utility of barcodes for studying symbiotic interactions: first, we consider communities of arthropods found in the ant-occupied domatia of the East African ant-plant Vachellia ( Acacia ) drepanolobium ; second, we examine communities of arthropod and protozoan inquilines in three species of Nepenthes pitcher plant in South East Asia; third, we investigate communities of gut bacteria of South American ants in the genus Cephalotes . Advances in sequencing and computation, and greater database connectivity, will continue to expand the utility of barcoding methods for the study of species interactions, especially if barcoding can be approached flexibly by making use of alternative genetic loci, metagenomes and whole-genome data. This article is part of the themed issue ‘From DNA barcodes to biomes’.


Genome ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 851-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Hajibabaei ◽  
Gregory AC Singer ◽  
Donal A Hickey

DNA barcoding has been recently promoted as a method for both assigning specimens to known species and for discovering new and cryptic species. Here we test both the potential and the limitations of DNA barcodes by analysing a group of well-studied organisms—the primates. Our results show that DNA barcodes provide enough information to efficiently identify and delineate primate species, but that they cannot reliably uncover many of the deeper phylogenetic relationships. Our conclusion is that these short DNA sequences do not contain enough information to build reliable molecular phylogenies or define new species, but that they can provide efficient sequence tags for assigning unknown specimens to known species. As such, DNA barcoding provides enormous potential for use in global biodiversity studies.Key words: DNA barcoding, species identification, primate, biodiversity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dương Thúy Yên ◽  
Nguyễn Kiệt ◽  
Bùi Sơn Nên ◽  
Nguyễn Văn Thường ◽  
Nguyễn Bạch Loan ◽  
...  

Three Pangasius species including P. krempfi, P. elongatus and P. mekongensis, are economically important. They can be mis-identified due to similar external appreance at small sizes. This study aimed to distinguish these species based on their differences in DNA barcode, COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) gene, and morphological characteristics. Fish with various sizes (>90 samples/species) were sampled at the lower Mekong delta region. Kimura-2 parameter genetic distances based on COI sequences of three species (15 samples, in which, 4 unique sequences were assigned Genbank accession numbers from KT289877 to KT289880) are relatively high, ranging 9.33 – 12.10 %. Morphological measurements show that coutanble traits including numbers of fin rays and the first gill rakers vary in similar ranges but ratios of metric traits are significantly different among three species (P<0.01). Principle component analysis using metric traits sets three species apart. P. elongatus is characterized by elongated body, long caudal preduncle, large eyes, and retangle palatine tooth plates. P. krempfi differs from P. mekongesis in characteristics on their head. The number of sections, shape and length of barbel are different among three species. Phylogenetic relationship of three species based on morphology and COI sequences indicate that P. krempfi is closer to P. mekongenis rather than P. elongatus, and that the distance between P. mekongenis and P. elongatus is the largest.


Acarologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-613
Author(s):  
Lucia Montes-Ortiz ◽  
Tom Goldschmidt ◽  
Lourdes Vásquez-Yeomans ◽  
Manuel Elías-Gutiérrez

A new planktonic species of the marine water mites of the family Pontarachnidae Koenike, 1910 is described from Corozal Bay, an estuarine system in Belize. The morphological description includes Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) images and is augmented by an analysis of DNA cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences, the DNA barcode, used for the first time for a species description in this group.


ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 975 ◽  
pp. 79-86
Author(s):  
Hai-Jun Yu ◽  
Xiao-Long Lin ◽  
Rui-Lei Zhang ◽  
Qian Wang ◽  
Xin-Hua Wang

The utility of COI DNA barcodes in species delimitation is explored as well as life stage associations of five closely related Propsilocerus species: Propsilocerus akamusi (Tokunaga, 1938), Propsilocerus paradoxus (Lundström, 1915), Propsilocerus saetheri Wang, Liu et Paasivirta, 2007, Propsilocerus sinicus Sæther et Wang, 1996, and Propsilocerus taihuensis (Wen, Zhou et Rong, 1994). Results revealed distinctly larger interspecific than intraspecific divergences and indicated a clear “barcode gap”. In total, 42 COI barcode sequences including 16 newly generated DNA barcodes were applied to seven Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). A neighbor-joining (NJ) tree comprises five well-separated clusters representing five morphospecies. Comments on how to distinguish the larvae of P. akamusi and P. taihuensis are provided.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4674 (4) ◽  
pp. 426-438
Author(s):  
CHENGLONG CAO ◽  
SIYAO HUANG ◽  
YONGQIANG XU ◽  
HAOMIN WU ◽  
TIANPENG CHEN ◽  
...  

The specimens of the family Hesperiidae collected from Tibet during 2016–2018 are identified using morphology. COI sequences of 76 individuals are newly obtained. The result of our morphological study is congruent with COI gene analyses. Maximum likehood (ML) and Bayesina inferences (BI) analyses reveal that individuals identified morphologically as the same species cluster cohesively. The minimum interspecific genetic distance is 1.7% between Halpe aucma and H. filda, and the genetic distance between conspecific individuals ranged from 0 to 0.2% for the genus Halpe. A total of 51 species are recognized, and six of them, Celaenorrhinus consanguineus Leech, 1891, Barca bicolor (Oberthür, 1896), Aeromachus propinquus Alphéraky, 1897, Pedesta bivitta (Oberthür, 1886), Baoris penicillata chapmani Evans, 1937, and Ochlodes brahma Moore, 1878, are reported from Tibet for the first time, and the last species is new to China. 


Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Lucia Montes-Ortiz ◽  
Manuel Elías-Gutiérrez

Water mites represent the most diverse and abundant group of Arachnida in freshwater ecosystems, with about 6000 species described; however, it is estimated that this number represents only 30% of the total expected species. Despite having strong biotic interactions with their community and having the potential to be exceptional bioindicators, they are frequently excluded from studies of water quality or ecology, due to actual and perceived difficulties of taxonomic identification in this group. The objective of this study is to use the variations in the sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), also known as the DNA barcodes region, as a tool to assess the diversity of water mites at 24 sites in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. We found 77 genetic groups or putative species corresponding to 18 genera: Arrenurus, Atractides, Centrolimnesia, Eylais, Geayia, Hydrodroma, Hydryphantes, Hygrobates, Koenikea, Krendowskia, Limnesia, Limnochares, Mamersellides, Mideopsis, Neumania, Piona, Torrenticola, and Unionicola. This was significant, since there are only 35 species described for this region. Furthermore, this molecular information has allowed us to infer that there are characteristic assemblies per site. These data will facilitate the incorporation of water mites in different studies while the curatorial work continues to assign a Linnaean name.


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