Integration of DNA barcoding into an ongoing inventory of complex tropical biodiversity

Ratnasingham, S. and Hausmann, A. and Harvey, D.J. and Gauld, I.D. and Hebert, P.D.N. and Hall, J.P.W. and Hajibabaei, M. and Haber, W.A. and Franclemont, J.G. and Espinoza, B. and Epstein, M.E. and Deans, A.R. and Dapkey, T. and Chacon, I. and Cadiou, J.M. and Burns, J.M. and Blandin, P. and Hallwachs, W. and Janzen, D.H. and Kitching, I.J. and Lafontaine, D. and Landry, J.F. and Lemaire, C. and Miller, J.Y. and Miller, J.S. and Miller, L. and Miller, S.E. and Montero, J. and Munroe, E. and Green, S.R. and Rawlins, J.E. and Smith, M.A. and Sharkey, M.J. and Rougerie, R. and Rodriguez, J.J. and Robbins, R.K. and Thiaucourt, P. and Whitfield, J.B. and Willmott, K.R. and Wood, D.M. and Woodley, N.E. and Wilson, J.J. and Weller, S.J. and Wahl, D.B. and Solis, M.A. and Sullivan, J.B. (2009) Integration of DNA barcoding into an ongoing inventory of complex tropical biodiversity. Molecular Ecology Resources, 9. pp. 1-26. ISSN 1755-098X, DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02628.x.

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Abstract

Inventory of the caterpillars, their food plants and parasitoids began in 1978 for today's Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), in northwestern Costa Rica. This complex mosaic of 120 000 ha of conserved and regenerating dry, cloud and rain forest over 0-2000 m elevation contains at least 10 000 species of non-leaf-mining caterpillars used by more than 5000 species of parasitoids. Several hundred thousand specimens of ACG-reared adult Lepidoptera and parasitoids have been intensively and extensively studied morphologically by many taxonomists, including most of the co-authors. DNA barcoding - the use of a standardized short mitochondrial DNA sequence to identify specimens and flush out undisclosed species - was added to the taxonomic identification process in 2003. Barcoding has been found to be extremely accurate during the identification of about 100 000 specimens of about 3500 morphologically defined species of adult moths, butterflies, tachinid flies, and parasitoid wasps. Less than 1% of the species have such similar barcodes that a molecularly based taxonomic identification is impossible. No specimen with a full barcode was misidentified when its barcode was compared with the barcode library. Also as expected from early trials, barcoding a series from all morphologically defined species, and correlating the morphological, ecological and barcode traits, has revealed many hundreds of overlooked presumptive species. Many but not all of these cryptic species can now be distinguished by subtle morphological and/or ecological traits previously ascribed to 'variation' or thought to be insignificant for species-level recognition. Adding DNA barcoding to the inventory has substantially improved the quality and depth of the inventory, and greatly multiplied the number of situations requiring further taxonomic work for resolution.

Item Type: Article
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Additional Information: Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science Building, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
Uncontrolled Keywords: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Braconidae, COI, Costa Rica, DNA, barcoding, Lepidoptera, species identification, Tachinidae, taxonomy, tropical biodiversity inventory, parasitoid flies diptera, skipper butterflies, group hymenoptera, lepidoptera, wasps, genus, identification, divergence, tachinidae, diversity
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions: Faculty of Science > Institute of Biological Sciences
Depositing User: Miss Malisa Diana
Date Deposited: 04 Feb 2013 01:54
Last Modified: 21 Dec 2014 09:07
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/4641

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