DNA Barcoding as a Tool for Species Discovery and Documentation in the Superfamily Ichneumonoidea

Sarah Meierotto
2018
Abstract: Changes to traditional taxonomic methods to incorporate new technologies and methods have already improved the quality of species hypotheses, but more work can be done to improve the speed of new species documentation. The mitochondrial COI DNA barcode has been successfully used to identify species with high accuracy since the early 2000s, and has been used in conjunction with morphological examinations and other DNA markers to discover and delimit new species. This thesis explores
more » ... application of DNA barcodes as the primary data for delimitation and diagnosis of new species of ichneumonoids. The genera Zelomorpha and Hemichoma are revised and 18 new species from the Área de Conservación Guanacaste in Costa Rica are diagnosed based on COI barcodes. Two additional species are described based on morphology. An illustrated morphological key and morphological diagnoses for each species are also included. Copyright: © Sarah Meierotto 2018
doi:10.13023/etd.2018.308 fatcat:iy7jajqmdbg65ltfuqoygwrbwi