Bulletin of Entomological Research (2021) 111, 511-516

Chiara Pedrazzini, Hermann Strasser, Rolf Holderegger, Franco Widmer and Jürg Enkerli (2021)
Development of a SNP-based tool for the identification and discrimination of Melolontha melolontha and Melolontha hippocastani
Bulletin of Entomological Research 111 (5), 511-516
Abstract: The European (Melolontha melolontha L.) and Forest (M. hippocastani F.) cockchafer are widespread pests throughout Central Europe. Both species exhibit a 3–5-year life cycle and occur in temporally shifted populations, which have been monitored and documented for more than 100 years. Visual identification of adults and larvae belonging to these morphologically similar species requires expertise and, particularly in the case of larvae, is challenging and equivocal. The goal of the study was the development of an efficient and fast molecular genetic tool for the identification and discrimination of M. melolontha and M. hippocastani. We established a collection of both species from Switzerland, Austria and Northern Italy in 2016, 2017 and 2018. An approximately 1550 bp long fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) mitochondrial gene was amplified and sequenced in 13 M. melolontha and 13 M. hippocastani beetles. Alignment of the new sequences with reference sequences (NCBI GenBank and BOLDSYSTEMS databases) and subsequent phylogenetic analysis revealed consistent clustering of the two species. After the identification of M. melolontha and M. hippocastani species-specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CO1 alignment, we developed an effective SNP tool based on the ABI PRISM® SNaPshot™ Multiplex Kit for the rapid and accurate species discrimination of adults and larvae.
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Database assignments for author(s): Hermann Strasser, Jürg Enkerli

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Melolontha melolontha		Austria
	Melolontha melolontha		Italy
	Melolontha melolontha		Switzerland
	Melolontha hippocastani		France
	Melolontha hippocastani		Switzerland