Kan DNA-streckkoder identifierainsektsarter i Malaisefälleprover lika exakt som taxonomisk expertis?

Sammanfattning

This study evaluates whether DNA barcoding can identify insect species in Malaisetrap samples with the same accuracy as traditional morphological identification bytaxonomic experts. The focus is on the rove beetle family Staphylinidae, a groupknown for its taxonomic complexity and difficulty in species-level identification. Thestudy also assesses whether DNA extraction from intact beetles yields sufficient DNAquantity and quality compared to extraction from only a part of the insect. A total of208 rove beetles (Staphylinidae) were selected for DNA extraction and barcodingusing a MinION flow cell. The DNA barcodes with a sufficient basepair count (658bp) and high sequence count in the MinION read were compared with the DNAdatabases BOLD and Genbank (NIH Blast) for genus and species identification. TheDNA-based identifications were compared with the expert morphologicalidentifications of the same individuals conducted during an insect identificationevent in March 2024 at Station Linné, Öland, Sweden. The expert identificationswere collected from Artportalen (SLU, 2025). The results showed that DNAextraction from intact insects did not always produce enough amplified DNA forsuccessful sequencing in the MinION system. Successful DNA barcode sequencingresults were received for 91 cells, which is 44% of the 208 specimens. 56 DNAbarcodes corresponded to 14 species which agreed with manual speciesdetermination. In three cases, DNA barcoding identified bacteria, and 3 individualrove beetles were found to belong to other genera than those identified in the originalmorphological identification. A second identification of these individuals showed thatthe error was due to mistakes in the first morphological identification. Addedknowledge of the most suitable methods for extracting DNA from beetles can improveresults for future studies. These results are promising for using DNA barcodingidentification for rove beetles, offering time savings and addressing the shortage oftaxonomic experts. This provided if accuracy in the DNA barcoding databasesequences and identification is maintained through the addition of new records ofboth known and new species as needed.