A DNA barcode library for katydids, cave crickets, and leaf-rolling crickets (Tettigoniidae, Rhaphidophoridae and Gryllacrididae) from Zhejiang Province, China.

Barcode libraries are generally assembled with two main objectives in mind: specimen identification and species discovery/delimitation. In this study, the standard COI barcode region was sequenced from 681 specimens belonging to katydids (Tettigoniidae), cave crickets (Rhaphidophoridae), and leaf-rolling crickets (Gryllacrididae) from Zhejiang Province, China. Of these, four COI-5P sequences were excluded from subsequent analyses because they were likely NUMTs (nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes). The final dataset consisted of 677 barcode sequences representing 90 putative species-level taxa. Automated cluster delineation using the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD) revealed 118 BINs (Barcodes Index Numbers). Among these 90 species-level taxa, 68 corresponded with morphospecies, while the remaining 22 were identified based on reverse taxonomy using BIN assignment. Thirteen of these morphospecies were represented by a single barcode (so-called singletons), and each of 19 morphospecies were split into more than one BIN. The consensus delimitation scheme yielded 55 Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs). Only four morphospecies ( > DNN) failed to be recovered as monophyletic clades (i.e., , , and ), so it is speculated that these may be species complexes. Therefore, the diversity of katydids, cave crickets, and leaf-rolling crickets in Zhejiang Province is probably slightly higher than what current taxonomy would suggest.