Päiväkirja-arkisto kohteelle kesäkuu 2015

kesäkuu 3, 2015

LifeScanner - DNA barcoding for all

On a recent visit to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO), home of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD), I was given a LifeScanner kit. These kits contain four vials, each containing a small amount of ethanol and labeled with a QR code. They are currently intended for use with an iPhone app - no Android support, so I was unable completely to follow the intended workflow. Users can photograph an item for which they would like a DNA-based identification (e.g. an insect, a leaf, some meat or fish served in a restaurant), place a sample in a vial, scan the QR code on the vial with the app, and upload the photo and associated details (including location from the phone GPS). Finally they mail a package containing the four vials to BIO and get notified when they have been sequenced and what identification results.

In my case, I supplied the necessary information separately, but mailed in four moth samples from a few days spent in Florida. The results were interesting.

A Coleophora sp. turned out to be a perfect match (100% similarity with several existing BOLD samples) for Coleophora glaucicolella, which has not been recorded in Moth Photographers Group or BugGuide from Florida.

A gelechiid I had identified as Aristotelia rubidella came back as matching (100% similarity) a large number of specimens registered in BOLD as Aristotelia corallina. This is interesting. The sequence and external appearance and distribution of records clearly indicates that the BOLD specimens are the same as the moth I found, but these do not seem to match A. corallina - see here for all the details.

Then there were two plume moths. One of these is Exelastis pumilio - the BOLD identification came back as Exelastis with the closest match (similarity 97.1%) with E. pumilio. The species identification is in line with the black spots in the termen and dorsum of the forewing.

The other plume moth was one which I examined too casually and initially labeled as Lantanophaga pusillidactylus. The identification came back as Stenoptilodes, which is quite correct - the moth looks exactly like Stenoptilodes taprobanes. Checking this out made me aware than in fact Florida has a second species in the same genus, Stenoptilodes brevipennis, so I can't proceed beyond identification as Stenoptilodes.

Even for these four moths, the LifeScanner kit helped focus identification questions and give confidence around what can be known and what is difficult to confirm.

LifeScanner kits are currently available for sale in the US and Canada from http://kits.lifescanner.net/.

Julkaistu kesäkuu 3, 2015 08:15 AP. käyttäjältä dhobern dhobern | 4 havaintoa | 18 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti