Non-monophyly and cryptic lineages between two morphoforms of Megalurothrips usitatus (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Peninsular Malaysia: Insights from morphological and molecular data

Abstract

The DNA barcode data revealed two lineages of M. usitatus. Lineage I, consisted of the typical M. usitatus morphoform ‘a’ from the field collected and laboratory reared specimens, and the reference sequences from the GenBank whereas Lineage II consisted of both M. usitatus morphoforms ‘a’ and ‘b’ from the field collected specimens. The interspecific distances between both lineages ranged from 8.78 to 9.63%, suggesting the presence of cryptic and non-monophyly lineages between two morphoforms of M. usitatus in Peninsular Malaysia.