Identification of wood-boring beetles (Cerambycidae and Buprestidae) intercepted in trade-associated solid wood packaging material using DNA barcoding and morphology

Abstract

Global trade facilitates the inadvertent movement of insect pests and subsequent establishment of populations outside their native ranges. Despite phytosanitary measures, nonnative insects arrive at United States (U.S.) ports of entry as larvae in solid wood packaging material (SWPM). Identification of wood-boring larval insects is important for pest risk analysis and management, but is difficult beyond family level due to highly conserved morphology. Therefore, we integrated DNA barcoding and rearing of larvae to identify wood-boring insects in SWPM. From 2012 to 2015, we obtained larvae of 338 longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae) and 38 metallic wood boring beetles (Buprestidae) intercepted in SWPM associated with imported products at six U.S. ports. We identified 265 specimens to species or genus using DNA barcodes. Ninety-three larvae were reared to adults and identified morphologically. No conflict was found between the two approaches, which together identified 275 cerambycids (23 genera) and 16 buprestids (4 genera). Our integrated approach confirmed novel DNA barcodes for seven species (10 specimens) of woodborers not in public databases. This study demonstrates the utility of DNA barcoding as a tool for regulatory agencies. We provide important documentation of potential beetle pests that may cross country borders through the SWPM pathway.

The Essential Role of Taxonomic Expertise in the Creation of DNA Databases for the Identification and Delimitation of Southeast Asian Ambrosia Beetle Species (Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Xyleborini)

“…In one case, Xylosandrus crassiusculus, our data clearly shows that it is a highly variable (i.e., COI haplotypes) monophyletic species and not three potential cryptic species (Ashfaq and Hebert, 2016). Taking these steps to improve species identification and verification of species in current global databases will improve accuracy of the DNA barcodes (Wu et al, 2017) and applications to biodiversity assessment or the testing of ecological hypotheses (e.g., Caesar et al, 2006;Cognato and Caesar, 2006;Miller et al, 2016).…”

“…Identification of immature stages to species or genus presents the greatest challenge even for experts. This taxonomic impediment could be remedied in part by the creation of a DNA database based on expertly identified specimens, as with other wood-boring beetles (Wu et al, 2017).…”

Discovery of a new species ofStromatiumAudinet‐Serville, 1834 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) native to Australia, based on morphology and DNA barcoding

“…; Wu et al . ). The molecular analysis in this study showed Australian specimens that represent a distinct group with marked COI divergences from S .…”

One maternal lineage leads the expansion of Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae) in the New and Old Worlds

“…The mtDNA is inherited most often only from the mother and does not undergo recombination 41 , enabling to assess the number of genetically unique founder females [42][43][44][45] . Studies of invasive species used similar methodologies, for example of T. peregrinus 16 , wood-boring beetles 46 , Melanagromyza sojae (Zehntner, 1900) (Diptera: Agromyzidae) 47 and Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) 48 .…”