Identification of Neoceratitis asiatica (Becker) (Diptera: Tephritidae) based on morphological characteristics and DNA barcode

Abstract

Neoceratitis asiatica (Becker), which especially infests wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.), could cause serious economic losses every year in China, especially to organic wolfberry production. In some important wolfberry plantings, it is difficult and time-consuming to rear the larvae or pupae to adults for morphological identification. Molecular identification based on DNA barcode is a solution to the problem. In this study, 15 samples were collected from Ningxia, China. Among them, five adults were identified according to their morphological characteristics. The utility of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene sequence as DNA barcode in distinguishing N. asiatica was evaluated by analysing Kimura 2-parameter distances and phylogenetic trees. There were significant differences between intra-specific and inter-specific genetic distances according to the barcoding gap analysis. The uncertain larval and pupal samples were within the same cluster as N. asiatica adults and formed sister cluster to N. cyanescens. A combination of morphological and molecular methods enabled accurate identification of N. asiatica. This is the first study using DNA barcode to identify N. asiatica and the obtained DNA sequences will be added to the DNA barcode database.

A New Species of Ululodes Owlfly (Ascalaphidae: Ululodinae) from Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona

“…DISTANCES AND T-TEST VALUES: Differences between the intra-and interspecific populations were unambiguously significant. When the intraspecific mean distances were contrasted with the species-respective interspecific mean distances, the corresponding T-test values exceeded the t-test statistic threshold by factors of 6.76x to 7.49x, indicating a profound and conspicuous "barcode gap" (sensu Guo et al, 2017;Cognato et al, 2020). The enormity of the significance was such that reducing degrees of freedom had no discernible effect, and resulted in a reduction of only two hundredths.…”

“…In recent decades, this marker has been shown in many groups of organisms to exhibit sequence basepair substitution rates concordant with species-level cladogenesis. As such, it has been tasked as a diagnostic "barcode" in numerous practical applications, including rapid identification for forensics (e.g., Boehme et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2020), geopolitical quarantines (e.g., Jordal and Kambestad, 2014;Guo et al, 2017;Lee et al, 2019;Cognato et al, 2020), and commercial applications (e.g., Sultana et al, 2018). It also has found a place in phylogenetic studies (Eliassen and Jordal, 2021; and many others), including of owlflies and other Neuroptera (e.g., Haring and Aspéck, 2004;Winterton et al, 2010;Jones, 2019).…”

Chromosome-level genome assembly of an important wolfberry fruit fly (Neoceratitis asiatica Becker)

“…Neoceratitis asiatica Becker is a major pest on the well-known traditional Chinese medicinal plant wolfberry ( Lycium barbarum ), which is limited distributed in Ningxia, Tibet and Xinjiang, China 8 . The outbreaks of N. asiatica affected the yield and quality of wolfberry seriously in recent years, especially in the organic wolfberry orchards that have not been exposed to any pesticides in Ningxia, resulting in fruit-damage rates of up to 80% every year 9 .…”

Wolbachia Infection of Neoceratitis asiatica (Diptera: Tephritidae)

“…Beneath the peel of infested fruit, the flesh is consumed by N. asiatica and the fruit is full of frass. Under these circumstances, the fruit cannot be used as a commodity or medicine, and thus has no economic value Guo et al 2017;Li et al 2017).…”

“…Investigations into N. asiatica began in the 1960s, and in the nearly half century following, research principally focused on the identification, pattern of occurrence, and control of the pest. Methods combining morphological characteristics and DNA barcoding have been used for its identification (Guo et al 2017). The mitochondrial genome of this fruit fly also has been studied to determine its phylogenetic status (Su et al 2017).…”