Investigating suburban micromoth diversity using DNA barcoding of malaise trap samples

Abstract

Micromoths can be challenging to identify based on morphology and are frequently omitted in assessments of moth diversity. However, their species richness and biology make them important components of terrestrial ecosystems. In this study we identified 1227 micromoths from a suburban garden at 63°north using DNA barcoding of Malaise trap samples. We recorded 78 different species with the 11 most abundant taxa accounting for 82 % of the catch. The remaining 67 species were represented by fewer than 14 specimens, but the number was often sufficient to provide a good idea of phenology. The larvae of these 78 species all feed on plants common in suburban environments. We show that when facilitated by identifications through DNA barcoding, Malaise traps provide interesting insights into the micromoth communities of suburban environments that might otherwise be overlooked. The use of Malaise traps is beneficial for investigations at high latitudes where light trapping is inefficient for sampling moths due to bright summer nights.

Sorting specimen‐rich invertebrate samples with cost‐effective NGS barcodes: Validating a reverse workflow for specimen processing

“…Invertebrate biologists often process specimen‐ and species‐rich bulk samples for purposes such as biomonitoring, biodiversity assessment and taxonomic revision (Miller, Hausmann, Hallwachs, & Janzen, ; Morinière et al., ). Traditionally, presorting of such bulk samples is based on morphology, but few invertebrate taxonomists have the time for species‐level sorting, and many taxa lack identification resources such as species‐level keys (Aagaard et al., ; Gotelli, ). A potential alternative for species‐level sorting is grouping specimens based on DNA barcodes, followed by validating molecular operational taxonomic units (mOTUs) using morphology.…”

“…identification resources such as species-level keys (Aagaard et al, 2017;Gotelli, 2004). A potential alternative for species-level sorting is grouping specimens based on DNA barcodes, followed by validating molecular operational taxonomic units (mOTUs) using morphology.…”

Testing the Global Malaise Trap Program – How well does the current barcode reference library identify flying insects in Germany?

“…The BIN system is a DNA-based registry for animal diversity, which was established on the Barcode of Life Datasystem (BOLD) as a tool to delineate species proxies (Ratnasingham and Hebert 2013). Based on a combination of genetic distance (2.2% ab initio ) and subsequent refinement using Markov clustering, it has proven extremely valuable in identifying specimens collected in large-scale biodiversity inventories (Aagaard et al 2016, Telfer et al 2015, Wirta et al 2015) and as an additional character for comparing traditional taxonomy concepts in, e.g. bees (Schmidt et al 2015), beetles (Oba et al 2015, Hendrich et al 2014), bugs (Raupach et al 2014), butterflies and moths (Hausmann et al 2013, Huemer et al 2014), fishes (Knebelsberger et al 2014a, Knebelsberger et al 2014b), Hemiptera (Gwiazdowski et al 2015), Neuroptera (Morinière et al 2014), and reptiles and amphibians (Hawlitschek et al 2015).…”

The Use of Malaise Trap for the Study of the Beetles Fauna (Insecta: Coleoptera) in the Territory of National Park «Khvalynsky» Saratov Province

“…Таким образом, применение ловушки Мале-за на модельном участке при изучении локальной колеоптерофауны в течение нескольких сезонов показывает неоднородность фауны во времени и пространстве и наличие в ее составе лобильного комплекса видов [27], роль которых в формирова-нии конкретного сообщества, вероятно, невели-ка. Но в целом применение ловушки в изучении биоразнообразия отдельных регионов -это необ-ходимая практика в исследовании экосистем, что подтверждено многими публикациями [13][14][15], включая те, что проведены с применением со-временных методов молекулярно-генетических исследований [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”