DNA barcoding of Deltocephalus Burmeister leafhoppers (Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae, Deltocephalini) in China

By

Zhang, Hong
Zhang, Yalin
Duan, Yani

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

867

Pages

55-71

Subjects

COI , Genetic distance , morphological variant

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.867.35058

 

Abstract

We investigated the feasibility of using the DNA barcode region in identifyingDeltocephalusfrom China. Sequences of the barcode region of the mitochondrial COI gene were obtained for 98 specimens (Deltocephalusvulgaris– 88,Deltocephaluspulicaris– 5,Deltocephalusuncinatus– 5). The average genetic distances among morphological and geographical groups ofD.vulgarisranged from 0.9% to 6.3% and among the three species ofDeltocephalusranged from 16.4% to 21.9% without overlap, which effectively reveals the existence of a “DNA barcoding gap”. It is important to assess the status of these morphological variants and explore the genetic variation among Chinese populations ofD.vulgarisbecause the status of this species has led to taxonomic confusion because specimens representing two distinct morphological variants based on the form of the aedeagus are often encountered at a single locality. Forty-five haplotypes (D.vulgaris– 36,D.pulicaris– 5,D.uncinatus– 4) were defined to perform the phylogenetic analyses; they revealed no distinct lineages corresponding either to the two morphotypes ofD.vulgarisor to geographical populations. Thus, there is no evidence that these variants represent genetically distinct species.