Genetic studies have highlighted cryptic diversity in many well-known taxa including aquatic insects, with the general implication that there are more species than are currently recognised. Baetis rhodani Pictet are among the most widespread, abundant and ecologically important of all European mayflies (Ephemeroptera), and used widely as biological indicators of stream quality. Traditional taxo...

Sequence diversity in the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene has been shown to be an effective tool for species identification and discovery in various groups of animals, but has not been extensively tested in mammals. We address this gap by examining the performance of DNA barcodes in the discrimination of 87 species of bats from Guyana. Eighty-one of these species showed both low intraspecif...

Disorders of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance are clinically and genetically heterogeneous, embracing recessive mtDNA depletion syndromes affecting children and adult-onset multiple mtDNA deletion disorders. Here we show that mutation of MPV17 - a gene implicated in severe, infantile hepatocerebral mtDNA depletion disorders characterised by a loss of mtDNA copies - can also cause clonally-...

DNA barcoding is helping in discovering high levels of cryptic species and an underestimation of biodiversity in many groups of organisms. Although mammals are arguably the most studied and one of the least speciose taxonomic classes, the rate of species discovery is increasing and biased for small mammals on islands. An earlier study found bats in the Caribbean as a taxonomic and geographic de...

Research using cytochrome c oxidase barcoding techniques on zoological specimens was initiated by Hebert et al. [Hebert, P.D.N., Ratnasingham, S., deWaard, J.R., 2003. Barcoding animal life: cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 divergences among closely related species. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 270, S96-S99]. By March 2004, the Consortium for the Barcode of Life started to promote the use of a standardi...

Three species of Episyrphus (Episyrphus) Matsumura, 1917 are here recorded in Australia: E. (E.) viridaureus (Wiedemann, 1824) and two new species E. (E.) oliviae Wright sp. nov. and E. (E.) glaber Wright sp. nov. A key to Australian Episyrphus (Episyrphus) species is provided, important taxonomic characters are illustrated and distributions of the three species are mapped. The distribution of ...

Understanding patterns of species diversity relies on accurate taxonomy which can only be achieved by long-term natural history research and the use of complementary information to establish species boundaries among cryptic taxa. We used DNA barcoding to characterize the ant diversity of Iguazú National Park (INP), a protected area of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest ecoregion, located at the s...

Species from the Solenopsis saevissima (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species group are native to South America and have a cosmopolitan distribution because they have been accidentally introduced in many countries around the world. In Brazil, they have a wide distribution, including urban areas. The present study was conducted to investigate the characterization of Solenopsis genus populatio...

DNA barcoding has become a promising means for the identification of organisms of all life-history stages. Currently, distance-based and tree-based methods are most widely used to define species boundaries and uncover cryptic species. However, there is no universal threshold of genetic distance values that can be used to distinguish taxonomic groups. Alternatively, DNA barcoding can deploy a "c...

The sugarcane stemborer Eldana saccharina is an indigenous African moth found throughout much of subsaharan Africa. Previous research has revealed ecological differences among geographical populations, raising the possibility that E. saccharina may consist of different biotypes. As a first step towards evaluating this hypothesis, E. saccharina populations from across Africa were surveyed for mi...