DNA barcoding of tropical black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) of Thailand

Abstract

The ecological and medical importance of black flies drives the need for rapid and reliable identification of these minute, structurally uniform insects. We assessed the efficiency of DNA barcoding for species identification of tropical black flies. A total of 351 cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 sequences were obtained from 41 species in six subgenera of the genus Simulium in Thailand. Despite high intraspecific genetic divergence (mean = 2.00%, maximum = 9.27%), DNA barcodes provided 96% correct identification. Barcodes also differentiated cytoforms of selected species complexes, albeit with varying levels of success. Perfect differentiation was achieved for two cytoforms of Simulium feuerborni, and 91% correct identification was obtained for the Simulium angulistylum complex. Low success (33%), however, was obtained for the Simulium siamense complex. The differential efficiency of DNA barcodes to discriminate cytoforms was attributed to different levels of genetic structure and demographic histories of the taxa. DNA barcode trees were largely congruent with phylogenies based on previous molecular, chromosomal and morphological analyses, but revealed inconsistencies that will require further evaluation.

DNA barcoding as an aid for species identification in austral black flies (Insecta: Diptera: Simuliidae)

“…Day et al, 2008;Kúdela et al, 2014;Ilmonen et al, 2009), and the Oriental Region (e.g. Pramual and Adler, 2014;Pramual and Kuvangkadilok, 2009;Pramual et al, 2011). It has also been demonstrated that the COI barcoding region is a useful tool in revealing levels of genetic diversity in poorly known taxa, for example C. dissimilis, G.…”

Simulium ( Gomphostilbia ) (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Southern Western Ghats, India: Two new species and DNA barcoding

“…n.) is congruent with evidence of the batoense species group in the subgenus Gomphostilbia. The result of TNT and ML analyses are evident to the phylogenetic relationship using COI and ITS1 genes (Thanwisai et al, 2006;Phayuhasena et al, 2010;Pramual et al, 2011;Pramual and Adler, 2014) and morphological assignment (Takaoka, 2012;Adler and Crosskey, 2015) of black flies in the oriental region. However, the phylogenetic relationship of Simulium members using COI gene sequences indicates that the S. (G.) panagudiense sp.…”

Trait-based and phylogenetic community ecology of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in tropical streams of Thailand

“…DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing Most (32 species) of the DNA samples were obtained from previous studies (Pramual et al, 2012;Pramual & Adler, 2014;Sriphirom et al, 2014). Larval specimens of three species (Simulium baimaii Kuvangkadilok & Takaoka, S. chiangmaiense Takaoka & Suzuki and S. siripoomense) were obtained in the present study.…”

“…For molecular work, we selected one representative specimen of each species from one sampling site that was included in morphological trait analyses. Previous phylogenetic studies (Pramual et al, 2012;Pramual & Adler, 2014;Sriphirom et al, 2014) revealed that the specimens included in our analyses were from monophyletic species. In addition, we also found no significant morphological differentiation within species across different sampling sites (data not shown).…”

“…The combined dataset was 1875 bp (586 bp for COI, 697 bp for COII and 592 bp for 18 S/ITS1). Most (138) sequences were available from previous publications (Pramual et al, 2012;Pramual & Adler, 2014;Sriphirom et al, 2014). The remaining 34 sequences (Table S2) were obtained in this study.…”