Molecular Taxonomy Of Pyraustinae And Spilomelinae(Lepidoptera: Crambidae) From Taibai Mountains Based On DNA Barcoding

As to Crambidae, Pyraustinae and Spilomelinae are economically significant, among which the pests are various. Until now, there are around 5180 species of 507 genera in the world, and around 700 species of 150 genera distributed in China. Although some scholars tried to do related research about taxonomy, the study of systematics is still on the α stage because of various species and complicated taxonomy systematics, so it is difficult to accurately identify the species only by morphological characters.In Shanxi, the majority of insect belongs to Lepidopteron in Taibai Mountain Nature Reserve, where Pyraustinae, 45 species of 24 genera, and Spilomelinae, 61 species of 31 genera, are mentioned in the book named The Qingling little moths(Insecta :Lepidopteron) wrote by Houhun Li and others in 2012.In this dissertation, combined DNA barcoding with traditional taxonomy, it is the first time to identify Pyraustinae(12 species of 8 genera) and Spilomelinae( 48 species of 27 genera) in the way of molecular taxonomy in Taibai Mountain Nature Reserve, texting the 144 gene sequences in order to further verify that COI gene can play a evident role in correctly doing molecular taxonomy. What’s more, the NJ tree is created according to the molecular data, especially help to analyze the genetic relationship of the relatives. The main results are as follows:(1) COI universal primer was used to extract the genes from the insect specimens collected in Taibai Mountain Nature Reserve and 144 gene sequences in total were obtained, with 100% success rate. The length of each gene sequence is more than 650 bp without insertion or deletion, accord with the standard, so DNA barcording can be used to identify the Pyraustinae and Spilomelinae in the way of molecular taxonomy.(2) It is well universal for Pyraustinae and Spilomelinae to be identified by DNA barcording based on COI gene sequences, with better recognition rate, even 100% in this research. The result of molecular taxonomy is well accord with the result of morphological taxonomy, so the molecular data can work as accurate evidence.(3) According to the NJ tree of the 60 species studied, based on COI gene sequences, the genetic relationship of the subfamilies is nearly the same as the traditional ones based on morphological characters, but there exists some disagreements in the genetic relationship of genera and species, which remains to do further in-depth study.(4) The altitude of Taibai Mountain may affect the gene communication among relatives(species) living at different altitudes via their host plant, but no obvious influence on the different individuals of the same species.