Increasing the digital repository of DNA barcoding sequences of sand flies (Psychodidae: Phlebotominae)

Abstract

Sand fly identification is complex because it depends on the expertise of the taxonomist. The females show subtle morphological differences and the occurrence of the species complexes are usual in this taxon. Therefore, a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene is used for taxon barcoding to resolve this kind of problem. This study incorporates barcode sequences, for the first time, for Evandromyia cortelezzii and Migonemyia migonei from Argentina. The nucleotide sequence divergences were estimated to generate a neighbour-joining (NJ) tree. The automatic barcode gap discovery (ABGD) approach was employed to find the barcode gaps and the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) delimitation. Other species of the subtribe were included. The frequency histogram of divergences showed a barcoding gap. The ABGD analysis identified 14 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) from 13 morphological species. Sequences of Ev. cortelezzii and Mg. migonei formed well supported clusters and were diagnosed as primary species. These sequences are useful tools for molecular identification of the sand flies of the New World.

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“…DNA barcode technology uses relatively short but stable gene sequences to identify biological species by comparison. The COI gene has less deletions and insertions, which is conducive to designing universal primers and is the preferred target of DNA barcoding, with important applications in the identification and classification of unknown species [ 8 , 9 ].…”