Abstract
BackgroundThe geometrid moths of Europe are one of the best investigated insect groups in traditional taxonomy making them an ideal model group to test the accuracy of the Barcode Index Number (BIN) system of BOLD (Barcode of Life Datasystems), a method that supports automated, rapid species delineation and identification.Methodology/Principal FindingsThis study provides a DNA barcode library for 219 of the 249 European geometrid moth species (88%) in five selected subfamilies. The data set includes COI sequences for 2130 specimens. Most species (93%) were found to possess diagnostic barcode sequences at the European level while only three species pairs (3%) were genetically indistinguishable in areas of sympatry. As a consequence, 97% of the European species we examined were unequivocally discriminated by barcodes within their natural areas of distribution. We found a 1:1 correspondence between BINs and traditionally recognized species for 67% of these species. Another 17% of the species (15 pairs, three triads) shared BINs, while specimens from the remaining species (18%) were divided among two or more BINs. Five of these species are mixtures, both sharing and splitting BINs. For 82% of the species with two or more BINs, the genetic splits involved allopatric populations, many of which have previously been hypothesized to represent distinct species or subspecies. Conclusions/SignificanceThis study confirms the effectiveness of DNA barcoding as a tool for species identification and illustrates the potential of the BIN system to characterize formal genetic units independently of an existing classification. This suggests the system can be used to efficiently assess the biodiversity of large, poorly known assemblages of organisms. For the moths examined in this study, cases of discordance between traditionally recognized species and BINs arose from several causes including overlooked species, synonymy, and cases where DNA barcodes revealed regional variation of uncertain taxonomic significance.
Highlights
In the decade since DNA barcodes were proposed as a tool for species identification [1], many studies have shown that this approach yields excellent results for most groups of animals [2,3,4]
In this paper we report the assembly of a comprehensive DNA barcode library for a taxonomically very well-known fauna - five of the seven subfamilies of European geometrid moths
Most sequences
Summary
In the decade since DNA barcodes were proposed as a tool for species identification [1], many studies have shown that this approach yields excellent results for most groups of animals [2,3,4]. As the number of DNA barcode campaigns has increased, and large libraries of barcodes have been assembled, efforts have been directed towards the development of methods for automated species delineation [9,10,11,12]. Initial work in this area focused on the development of approaches enabling the estimation of species boundaries within the sequences gathered in a particular study. The geometrid moths of Europe are one of the best investigated insect groups in traditional taxonomy making them an ideal model group to test the accuracy of the Barcode Index Number (BIN) system of BOLD (Barcode of Life Datasystems), a method that supports automated, rapid species delineation and identification
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