Estimation of species richness of moths (Insecta: Lepidoptera) based on DNA barcoding in Suqian, China

Abstract

To explore the feasibility of assessing species diversity using DNA barcoding, we investigated this approach by focusing on moths species (Lepidoptera) in Suqian, China. The study evaluated community species richness and rank-abundance curves using the DNA barcoding method, and compared it with the traditional morphology method. Results indicated that there was no significant difference between the DNA barcode-based approach and the morphology-based approach. All DNA barcode-based rank-abundance curves gave similar and clear patterns when compared with morphology-based curves (Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test, P > 0.05). Our results indicate that the DNA barcode-based approach is able to be used to estimate species richness.