Jeremy deWaard

Hogg, I.D., Smith, B.J., Banks, J.C., deWaard, J.R., and Hebert, P.D.N. (2009). Testing the utility of mitochondrial DNA (COI) sequences for the identification and phylogeny of New Zealand caddisflies (Trichoptera). New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 43: 1137-1146. [abstract pdf] [full text pdf] [website]

Abstract: We tested the hypothesis that cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences would successfully discriminate recognised species of New Zealand caddisflies. We further examined whether phylogenetic analyses, based on the COI locus, could recover currently recognised superfamilies and suborders. COI sequences were obtained from 105 individuals representing 61 species and all 16 families of Trichoptera known from New Zealand. No sequence sharing was seen between members of different species and congeneric species showed from 2.3 – 19.5% divergence. Sequence divergence among members of a species was typically low (mean = 0.7%; range 0-8.5%), but two species showed intraspecific divergences in excess of 2%. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on COI were largely congruent with prior conclusions based on morphology, although the sequence data did not support placement of the purse-cased caddisflies (Hydroptilidae) within the uncased caddisflies, and in particular, the Rhyacophiloidea. We conclude that sequence variation in the COI gene locus is not only a useful tool for the identification of New Zealand caddisfly species, but that it can provide preliminary phylogenetic inferences. Further work is needed to ascertain the significance of the few cases of high intra-specific divergence and to determine if any cases of sequence sharing will be detected with larger sample sizes.