Abstract
Neuroptera (lacewings) is one of the ancient holometabolous insect groups, but some extant species stand as important natural enemies for biological control. As the capital city of China, Beijing has a rich fauna of Neuroptera, previously with 47 species recorded and sorted in 32 genera of seven families. In this study, DNA barcoding based on sequences of COI gene fragments is used to discriminate lacewing species from Beijing. 217 DNA barcode sequences belonging to 49 species were successfully obtained. The COI barcode data worked well for identification of almost all lacewing species herein examined except Pseudomalladaprasinus (Burmeister), in which cryptic species may exist. Twenty species of Neuroptera are newly recorded from Beijing. Besides, Nothochrysinae is first recorded from Beijing. Chrysopidiaciliata (Wesmael) and Drepanepteryxalgida (Erichson) are first recorded from China.
Highlights
IntroductionNeuroptera (lacewings) is the most species-rich order of the superorder Neuropterida
Neuroptera is the most species-rich order of the superorder Neuropterida
It should be noted that some other methods we tested for species delimitation (i.e., Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) and Bayesian Poisson Tree Processes model (bPTP)) based on present barcode data may result in some problematic identification
Summary
Neuroptera (lacewings) is the most species-rich order of the superorder Neuropterida. There are about 6000 described species worldwide in 16 families (Engel et al 2018; Winterton et al 2018). Larvae are characterized by the specialized mandibles and maxillae that are combined into a pair of sucking jaws. The common groups of Neuroptera consist of Chrysopidae (green lacewings), Hemerobiidae (brown lacewings), Myrmeleontidae (antlions), and Coniopterygidae (dusty lacewings), while the other lacewing families each comprises much fewer species and some of these families (e.g., Nevrorthidae, Rhachiberothidae, Ithonidae, Psychopsidae) have much narrower distributions. The diversification of Neuroptera in morphology as well as in biology is remarkable (Aspöck et al 2012; Engel et al 2018)
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