Biological identification of springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) from the Canadian Arctic, using mitochondrial DNA barcodes

• Published in: Canadian journal of zoology Vol. 82; no. 5; pp. 749 - 754
• Main Authors: Hogg, I.D, Hebert, P.D.N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa, Canada NRC Research Press 01.05.2004; National Research Council of Canada; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Arctic region; Arthropods; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Canada; Classification; Collembola; Comparative analysis; Cryptic species; Cytochrome; cytochrome-c oxidase; DNA barcoding; Fauna; Folsomia; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; genes; Genetic diversity; genetic variation; Hypogastrura; insect taxonomy; Insecta; Insects; Invertebrates; Islands; Mitochondrial DNA; molecular sequence data; molecular systematics; nucleotide sequences; Nunavut; phylogeny; sequence analysis; sequence divergence; Species diversity; Systematics. Geographical distribution; Taxa; taxonomy; Canada; Nunavut; Arctic region; Arctic Region; North America; America; Canadian Arctic; Arctic; Geographic distribution; Taxonomy; Arthropoda; Insecta; Collembola; Mitochondrial DNA; Specific identification; Invertebrata
• ISSN: 0008-4301; 1480-3283; 1480-3283; 0008-4301
• DOI: 10.1139/z04-041

We evaluated sequence diversity in the mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI; EC 1.9.3.1) gene as a tool for resolving differences among species of Arctic springtails. The Collembola examined in this analysis were collected from Igloolik, Cornwallis, and Somerset islands and included representatives from all major families found in the Arctic. Members of 13 genera and 19 species were examined, including 4 species of the genus Folsomia and 3 species of the genus Hypogastrura. In all cases, species were successfully discriminated. Sequence divergences within species were generally less than 1%, whereas divergences between species were greater than 8% in all cases. Divergences among individuals of one species of Folsomia were much higher (up to 13%), but this likely represents the presence of an undescribed sibling species. We conclude that DNA barcoding is a powerful tool for identifying species of Collembola and should regularly be useful as a complement to traditional, morphological taxonomy.