DNA barcoding of Pentatomomorpha bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Western Ghats of India

Recent studies from East Asia and Canadian National Collection of Insects have established the utility of DNA barcoding technique in identification of true bugs. The present study is an expansion of the database by adding mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (mtCOI) sequences from forty three species of indigenous true bugs of India. mtCOI gene analysis of infraorder Pentatomomorpha covering a total of seventy three species that belong to five superfamilies; Pentatomoidea, Coreoidea, Pyrrhocoroidea, Lygaeoidea and Aradoidea revealed more than 3% interspecific distances in all the taxa studied except for two cases which showed barcode sharing. Less than 2% intra-specific divergence was observed in 97% of the taxa analysed and the average interspecies genetic distance was about 29 times higher than the average intraspecies genetic divergence. Distinct sequence divergence pattern at generic level and NJ clustering analysis suggests that COI barcode is an excellent molecular marker for species level identification of unknown taxa; however it may not be useful for resolving deep levels of divergence. Species identification even at nymphal stage could be achieved confirming the efficacy of this technique.