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31 December 2022 High-Throughput Sequencing for Life-History Sorting and for Bridging Reference Sequences in Marine Gerromorpha (Insecta: Heteroptera)
Jia Jin Marc Chang, Yin Cheong Aden Ip, Lanna Cheng, Ismael Kunning, Ralph R. Mana, Benjamin J. Wainwright, Danwei Huang
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Abstract

Accurate identification and association of larval specimens with adults is a major challenge in insect taxonomy. Fortunately, it is now possible for nonexperts to sort collections of bulk samples with DNA barcodes rapidly and cost-effectively. We demonstrate this process using nanopore barcoding of 757 marine insects (Insecta: Gerromorpha), of which 81% were nymphs and many samples did not have co-occurring adult males for specific identification. We successfully associated 738 specimens (97%) to nine gerromorphan species, which would have been impossible to identify using morphological characters alone. This improved ability to incorporate information from all life-history stages has led to greater precision of species distributional ranges—knowledge that will be crucial for a more complete understanding of marine insects. We also highlighted two distinct, nonoverlapping Gerromorpha COI sequence databases on GenBank—a consequence of using two different primer sets to amplify different regions of COI. This issue inevitably hinders species identification with DNA-based methods, particularly for poorly represented groups such as marine insects. We bridged these databases by analyzing full-length COI sequences. We believe this will inspire future studies to incorporate DNA-based methods for more adult–larval association studies and for enhancing existing genetic resources, especially in understudied groups.

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Jia Jin Marc Chang, Yin Cheong Aden Ip, Lanna Cheng, Ismael Kunning, Ralph R. Mana, Benjamin J. Wainwright, and Danwei Huang "High-Throughput Sequencing for Life-History Sorting and for Bridging Reference Sequences in Marine Gerromorpha (Insecta: Heteroptera)," Insect Systematics and Diversity 6(1), 1-12, (31 December 2022). https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixab024
Received: 24 August 2021; Accepted: 28 October 2021; Published: 31 December 2022
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KEYWORDS
adult–nymph association
biodiversity assessment
Halobates
nanopore barcoding
species diversity
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