Molecular Identification of D. nuttalli and D.marginatus

This study was to establish a molecular identification method to distinguish Dermacentor nuttalli(D. nuttalli) and Dermacentor marginatus(D. marginatus),and to study their phylogenetic relationship. The ticks were collected from domestic animals in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for morphological identification,then their genomic DNAs were isolated for amplifying mitochondrial 16 S rRNA and cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene(COI). The phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the sequencing results of PCR products by employing Mega 5. 0 and Mrbayes 3. 2 for homology analysis. Clustering analysis PCR product for 16 S rRNA from both D. marginatus and D. nuttalli was clustered together with their respective 16 S rRNA sequences previously accessed in GenBank,and that for COI gene as well. These are basically identical with morphological identification results. Our results indicate that morphological identification,combined with molecular markers,would be a simple and accurate method for distinguishing D. nuttalli and D. marginatus.

Phylogeny of the green lacewing Chrysoperla nipponensis species-complex （Neuroptera： Chrysopidae）in China, based on mitochondrial sequences and AFLP data

Severalstudieshaveindicatedthatthegreenlacewing, Chrysoperlanipponensis （Neuroptera： Chrysopidae） may include more than one valid species. We investigated the phylogenetic status of Chrysoperla nipponensis s.l. in China and Japan using mitochondrial sequences and AFLP data. The molecular phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial genes showed that the C. nipponensis species-complex comprises four clades, each having high support values. In addition, the phylogenetic tree based on AFLP data indicates that the species-complex comprises three groups. These results confirm that C. nipponensis s.1. comprises at least three genetically distinct clades and suggests that two of these clades may be closely related to populations of C. nipponensis in Japan. However, these clades cannot be recognized as species until analysis of their courtshin songs has been cornnleted

Further insight into reproductive incompatibility between putative cryptic species of the Bemisia tabaci whitefly complex

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci （Gennadius） （Hemiptera： Aleyrodidae）, with its global distribution and extensive genetic diversity, is now known to be a complex of over 35 cryptic species. However, a satisfactory resolution of the systematics of this species complex is yet to be achieved. Here, we designed experiments to examine reproductive compatibility among species with different levels of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I （mtCOI） divergence. The data show that putative species with mtCOI divergence of 〉 8% between them consistently exhibited complete reproductive isolation. However, two of the putative species, Asia II 9 and Asia II 3, with mtCOI divergence of 4.47% between them, exhibited near complete reproductive compatibility in one direction of their cross, and partial reproductive compatibility in the other direction. Together with some recent reports on this topic from the literature, our data indicates that, while divergence in the mtCOI sequences provides a valid molecular marker for species delimitation in most clades, more genetic markers and more sophisticated molecular phylogeny will be required to achieve adequate delimitation of all species in this whitefly complex. While many attempts have been made to examine the reproductive compatibility among genetic groups of the B. tabaci complex, our study represents the first effort to conduct crossing experiments with putative species that were chosen with considerations of their genetic divergence. In light of the new data, we discuss the best strategy and protocols to conduct further molecular phylogenetic analysis and crossing trials, in order to reveal the overall pattern of reproductive incompatibility among species of this whitefly complex.