Parasites and Vectors (2014) 7 (519) - DNA barcoding does not ...

Silvia Andrade Justi, Carolina Dale and Cleber Galvão (2014)
DNA barcoding does not separate South American Triatoma (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), Chagas disease vectors
Parasites and Vectors 7 (519)
Abstract:
Background
DNA barcoding assumes that a biological entity is completely separated from its closest relatives by a barcoding gap, which means that intraspecific genetic distance (from COI sequences) should never be greater than interspecific distances. We investigated the applicability of this strategy in identifying species of the genus Triatoma from South America.
Findings
We calculated intra and interspecific Kimura-2-parameter distances between species from the infestans, matogrossensis, sordida and rubrovaria subcomplexes. In every subcomplex examined we observed at least one intraspecific distance greater than interspecific distances.
Conclusions
Although DNA barcoding is a straightforward approach, it was not applicable for identifying Southern American Triatoma species, which may have diverged recently. Thus, caution should be taken in identifying vector species using this approach, especially in groups where accurate identification of taxa is fundamentally linked to public health issues.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article

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

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Triatoma infestans		Bolivia
	Triatoma infestans		Uruguay
	Triatoma sordida		Argentina
	Triatoma sordida		Argentina
	Triatoma sordida		Bolivia
	Triatoma sordida		Brazil (south)
	Triatoma rubrovaria		Brazil (south)