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12 October 2023 Evaluation of identification methods for cryptic Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) specimens: combining morphological and molecular techniques
Emeline Charbonnel, Marie-Pierre Chapuis, Andrea Taddei, Mark K. Schutze, Melissa L. Starkie, Laure Benoit, Raphaëlle Mouttet, David Ouvrard
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Abstract

The potential for population genomics to elucidate invasion pathways of a species is limited by taxonomic identification issues. The Oriental fruit fly pest, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) belongs to a complex in which several sympatric species are attracted to the same lure used in trapping and are morphologically cryptic and/or reported to hybridize. In this study, we evaluated the taxonomic ambiguity between B. dorsalis and 2 major cryptic species, based on morphological expertise and 289 target specimens sampled across the whole distribution range. Specimens were then subjected to DNA sequence analyses of the COI mitochondrial barcode and the EIF3L nuclear marker to evaluate the potential for molecular identification, in particular for specimens for which morphological identification was inconclusive. To this aim, we produced reference datasets with DNA sequences from target specimens whose morphological identification was unambiguous, which we complemented with 56 new DNA sequences from closest relatives and 76 published and curated DNA sequences of different species in the complex. After the necessary morphological observation, about 3.5% of the target dataset and 47.6% of the specimens from Southeast Asian islands displayed ambiguous character states shared with B. carambolae and/or B. occipitalis. Critical interpretation of DNA sequence data solved morphological ambiguities only when combining both mitochondrial and nuclear markers. COI discriminated B. dorsalis from 5 species; EIF3L and ITS from another species. We recommend this procedure to ensure correct identification of B. dorsalis specimens in population genetics studies and surveillance programs.

Emeline Charbonnel, Marie-Pierre Chapuis, Andrea Taddei, Mark K. Schutze, Melissa L. Starkie, Laure Benoit, Raphaëlle Mouttet, and David Ouvrard "Evaluation of identification methods for cryptic Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) specimens: combining morphological and molecular techniques," Journal of Economic Entomology 116(6), 2193-2200, (12 October 2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toad178
Received: 5 July 2023; Accepted: 8 September 2023; Published: 12 October 2023
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KEYWORDS
ambiguous identification
haplotype diversity
mtDNA
nDNA
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