The soil fauna of the tropics remains one of the least known components of the biosphere. Long-term monitoring of this fauna is hampered by the lack of taxonomic expertise and funding. These obstacles may potentially be lifted with DNA metabarcoding. To validate this approach, we studied the ants, springtails and termites of 100 paired soil samples from Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The fauna was extracted with Berlese-Tullgren funnels and then either sorted with traditional taxonomy and known, individual DNA barcodes (“traditional samples”) or processed with metabarcoding (“metabarcoding samples”). We detected 49 ant, 37 springtail and 34 termite species with 3.46 million reads of the COI gene, at a mean sequence length of 233 bp. Traditional identification yielded 80, 111 and 15 species of ants, springtails and termites, respectively; 98%, 37% and 100% of these species had a Barcode Index Number (BIN) allowing for direct comparison with metabarcoding. Ants were best surveyed through traditional methods, termites were better detected by metabarcoding, and springtails were equally well detected by both techniques. Species richness was underestimated, and faunal composition was different in metabarcoding samples, mostly because 37% of ant species were not detected. The prevalence of species in metabarcoding samples increased with their abundance in traditional samples, and seasonal shifts in species prevalence and faunal composition were similar between traditional and metabarcoding samples. Probable false positive and negative species records were reasonably low (13–18% of common species). We conclude that metabarcoding of samples extracted with Berlese-Tullgren funnels appear suitable for the long-term monitoring of termites and springtails in tropical rainforests. For ants, metabarcoding schemes should be complemented by additional samples of alates from Malaise or light traps.
An illustrated identification key to the North American termite families and genera based mainly on the soldier caste is proposed. A checklist of termites (Insecta: Blattodea: Isoptera) of Canada, continental USA and Mexico is presented, listing 89 species (and two subspecies) grouped in 26 genera and four families. Five species are added to the Mexican termite fauna, these records are for the states of Campeche: Cryptotermes cavifrons; Quintana Roo: Cryptotermes cavifrons, Neotermes holmgreni, Neotermes phragmosus, Neotermes mona; Sonora: Incisitermes banksi; and Yucatan: Neotermes phragmosus. Other 32 new state records are made for the states of Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Sonora, and Yucatan. The species Coptotermes crassus, Coptotermes havilandi, Incisitermes perparvus, Microcerotermes strunckii, Nasutitermes costalis, Incisitermes nigritus and Termes melindae are eliminated from the termite fauna of this region.
A new monotypic nasute termite genus, Hyleotermes gen. nov., is proposed for Nasutitermes brevipilus Emerson, 1925. Hyleotermes brevipilus, comb. nov., is redescribed and illustrated based on the morphology of the imago, soldier, and worker castes. It is expanded into Amazonia. The soldier of Hyleotermes differs from that of Nasutitermes Dudley, 1890 in that the former has a long and cylindrical nasus and the head capsule lacks long setae and is covered with microscopic setae. Unlike the worker of Nasutitermes, the Hyleotermes worker has a short mixed segment and an enteric valve is adorned with narrow spines on conical bases. The phylogenetic position of H. brevipilus comb nov., is reconstructed based on a dataset with two mitochondrial markers (COI and 16SrRNA) for 36 terminals, under maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Results corroborate that this species is unrelated to Nasutitermes and should be excluded from the genus.
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