DNA barcoding implicates 23 species and four orders as potential pollinators of Chinese knotweed (Persicaria chinensis) in Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Chinese knotweed (Persicaria chinensis) is of ecological and economic importance as a high-risk invasive species and a traditional medicinal herb. However, the insects associated with P. chinensis pollination have received scant attention. As a widespread invasive plant we would expect P. chinensis to be associated with a diverse group of insect pollinators, but lack of taxonomic identification capacity is an impediment to confirm this expectation. In the present study we aimed to elucidate the insect pollinators of P. chinensis in peninsular Malaysia using DNA barcoding. Forty flower visitors, representing the range of morphological diversity observed, were captured at flowers at Ulu Kali, Pahang, Malaysia. Using Automated Barcode Gap Discovery, 17 morphospecies were assigned to 23 species representing at least ten families and four orders. Using the DNA barcode library (BOLD) 30% of the species could be assigned a species name, and 70% could be assigned a genus name. The insects visiting P. chinensis were broadly similar to those previously reported as visiting Persicaria japonica, including honey bees (Apis), droneflies (Eristalis), blowflies (Lucilia) and potter wasps (Eumedes), but also included thrips and ants.

Temporal changes in arthropod activity in tropical anthropogenic forests

“…91.0% of OTU were assigned an order name. Due to incompleteness of DNA barcode reference libraries available for the region (Wong et al , 2015; Wilson et al , 2016), we did not systematically assign more precise taxonomic names to the OTU.…”

DNA metabarcoding of insects and allies: an evaluation of primers and pipelines

“…1). Consequently, we used the program Primer3 Plus (Rozen & Skaletsky, 2000) and a set of diverse high-quality insect COI sequences from another study (Wong et al, 2015) to select a 22 bp region slightly downstream of MLepF1 with appropriate structural and physical properties for primer binding. We included two degenerate bases (Ws) to create a reverse version of MLepF1 (named MLepF1-Rev).…”

Seed viability of Persicaria chinensis (L.) H.Gross in Aotearoa / New Zealand

“…There is a gap in the understanding of the seed ecology of Chinese knotweed in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Studies overseas have indicated the flowers are insect pollinated (Wong et al 2015), and the seeds are dispersed by animals (Partasasmita & Ueda 2005). Seed dormancy triggers and germination conditions for this species are unknown, however closely related species have been studied internationally (Smith et al 2014;Justice 1941;Timson 1965).…”