O uso do DNA barcode para a taxonomia de insetos aquáticos

Abstract

Aquatic insects are excellent environmental bioindicators , by the fact that they respond in some way to the factors that alter the environment. However, its use as a biomarker has been highly hindered due to lack of immature identified to species level, due to the immature stages do not have remarkable morphological characteristics, as they present in the mature phase. In order to reverse this, this study aimed to use molecular tools, together with the alpha taxonomy, to accelerate the identification and association of immature stages with adult stages, in which a mitochondrial gene fragment analysis, COI, also known as barcode, acts supporting the species delimitation. A total of 221 sequences, of the orders Odonata, Plecoptera and Trichoptera, were analyzed, with a mean intraspecific genetic divergence was approximately 1%, in which it was possible to rescue twenty associations between immature stages and their respective adult representatives, in which nine of these, do not have the stage described in the literature: four associations for Odonata, one for Plecoptera and four in Trichoptera. Validating in this way, the use of the barcode, together with the alpha taxonomy, for analyzes focused on the delimitation of species of groups of aquatic insects.