DNA barcoding the Lepidoptera inventory of a large complex tropical conserved wildland, Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica

Abstract

Abstract:The 37-year ongoing inventory of the estimated 15 000 species of Lepidoptera living in the 125 000 terrestrial hectares of Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, has DNA barcode documented 11 000+ species, and the simultaneous inventory of at least 6000+ species of wild-caught caterpillars, plus 2700+ species of parasitoids. The inventory began with Victorian methodologies and species-level perceptions, but it was transformed in 2004 by the full application of DNA barcoding for specimen identification and species discovery. This tropical inventory of an extraordinarily species-rich and complex multidimensional trophic web has relied upon the sequencing services provided by the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, and the informatics support from BOLD, the Barcode of Life Data Systems, major tools developed by the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, and available to all through couriers and the internet. As biodiversity information flows from these many thousands of undescribed and often look-alike species through their transformations to usable product, we see that DNA barcoding, firmly married to our centuries-old morphology-, ecology-, microgeography-, and behavior-based ways of taxonomizing the wild world, has made possible what was impossible before 2004. We can now work with all the species that we find, as recognizable species-level units of biology. In this essay, we touch on some of the details of the mechanics of actually using DNA barcoding in an inventory.

Nuclear genomes distinguish cryptic species suggested by their DNA barcodes and ecology

“…S1 and refs. 4,6,10). Barring further analysis, we cannot confidently say how many of the barcode splits reflect biological species.…”

“…Barring further analysis, we cannot confidently say how many of the barcode splits reflect biological species. But from long experience, we hazard that 10-20% of the traditional, morphologically based "single" species will turn out to be two or more (3,4,(8)(9)(10). Sound evidence for species status of problematic barcode clusters separated by shallow splits comes from covariance between those clusters and independent characters.…”

“…S1 and Table S1) by just 1.5% (10 bp). They were dubbed U. kikkawaiDHJ01 and U. kikkawaiDHJ02, respectively, as with hundreds of other "barcode splits" encountered in the inventory (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Examination of adults ( Fig.…”

“…The intense collecting (3) followed by mitochondrial DNA barcoding (4,5) often suggests that what was known as a single species may comprise several species. But is there really more than one species?…”

“…But is there really more than one species? Subsequent study often finds characters from morphology, ecology, or natural history that covary with the barcodes and thereby confirm a complex of several species that may not differ from each other in their external appearance (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Udranomia kikkawai, a small and long-known Costa Rican skipper butterfly (Hesperiidae), is one exemplar among many.…”