Hernández-Triana Luis M, Chaverri Luis G, Rodríguez- Pérez Mario A, Prosser Sean W J, Hebert Paul D N, Gregory T Ryan, Johnson Nick
Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB; Email:
Zootaxa. 2015 Mar 18;3936(1):93-114. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3936.1.5.
Although correct taxonomy is paramount for disease control programs and epidemiological studies, morphology-based taxonomy of black flies is extremely difficult. In the present study, the utility of a partial sequence of the COI gene, the DNA barcoding region, for the identification of species of black flies from Mesoamerica was assessed. A total of 32 morphospecies were analyzed, one belonging to the genus Gigantodax and 31 species to the genus Simulium and six of its subgenera (Aspathia, Eusimulium, Notolepria, Psaroniocompsa, Psilopelmia, Trichodagmia). The Neighbour Joining tree (NJ) derived from the DNA barcodes grouped most specimens according to species or species groups recognized by morphotaxonomic studies. Intraspecific sequence divergences within morphologically distinct species ranged from 0.07% to 1.65%, while higher divergences (2.05%-6.13%) in species complexes suggested the presence of cryptic diversity. The existence of well-defined groups within S. callidum (Dyar & Shannon), S. quadrivittatum Loew, and S. samboni Jennings revealed the likely inclusion of cryptic species within these taxa. In addition, the suspected presence of sibling species within S. paynei Vargas and S. tarsatum Macquart was supported. DNA barcodes also showed that specimens of species that are difficult to delimit morphologically such as S. callidum, S. pseudocallidum Díaz Nájera, S. travisi Vargas, Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez, relatives of the species complexes such as S. metallicum Bellardi s.l. (e.g., S. horacioi Okazawa & Onishi, S. jobbinsi Vargas, Martínez Palacios, Díaz Nájera, and S. puigi Vargas, Martínez Palacios & Díaz Nájera), and S. virgatum Coquillett complex (e.g., S. paynei and S. tarsatum) grouped together in the NJ analysis, suggesting they represent valid species. DNA barcoding combined with a sound morphotaxonomic framework provided an effective approach for the identification of medically important black flies species in Mesoamerica and for the discovery of hidden diversity within this group.
尽管正确的分类对于疾病控制计划和流行病学研究至关重要，但基于形态学的蚋类分类极其困难。在本研究中，评估了细胞色素氧化酶亚基I（COI）基因的部分序列（即DNA条形码区域）在鉴定中美洲蚋类物种方面的效用。总共分析了32个形态物种，其中1个属于巨蚋属，31个物种属于蚋属及其6个亚属（阿斯帕蚋亚属、真蚋亚属、诺托蚋亚属、伪尼蚋亚属、裸盾蚋亚属、毛蚋亚属）。从DNA条形码得到的邻接法（NJ）树根据形态分类学研究认可的物种或物种组对大多数标本进行了分组。形态上不同的物种内的种内序列差异范围为0.07%至1.65%，而物种复合体中的差异较高（2.05% - 6.13%），这表明存在隐性多样性。在美丽蚋（戴尔和香农）、四线蚋（洛伊）和桑氏蚋（詹宁斯）中存在明确的组，这表明这些分类单元中可能包含隐性物种。此外，佩氏蚋（巴尔加斯）和跗斑蚋（马克夸特）中疑似同胞物种的存在也得到了支持。DNA条形码还显示，形态上难以界定的物种的标本，如美丽蚋、拟美丽蚋（迪亚斯·纳杰拉）、特拉氏蚋（巴尔加斯、巴尔加斯和拉米雷斯 - 佩雷斯），物种复合体的相关物种，如金属蚋（贝拉尔迪广义）（例如，霍氏蚋（冈泽和大西）、乔宾蚋（巴尔加斯）、马丁内斯·帕拉西奥斯、迪亚斯·纳杰拉和普伊氏蚋（巴尔加斯、马丁内斯·帕拉西奥斯和迪亚斯·纳杰拉）），以及条纹蚋（科奎利特）复合体（例如，佩氏蚋和跗斑蚋）在NJ分析中聚集在一起，这表明它们代表有效物种。DNA条形码与完善的形态分类框架相结合，为鉴定中美洲具有医学重要性的蚋类物种以及发现该类群中的隐藏多样性提供了一种有效方法。
