DNA barcoding and morphology reveal two common species in one: Pimpla molesta stat. rev. separated from P. croceipes (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae)

Correct species identification is the basis of ecological studies. Nevertheless, morphological examination alone may not be enough to tell species apart. Here, our integrated molecular and morphological studies demonstrate that the relatively widespread and common neotropical parasitoid wasp Pimpla croceipes Cresson, 1874 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) actually consists of two distinct species. The name Pimpla molesta (Smith, 1879) stat. rev. is available for the second species. The two species were identified by DNA barcoding and minor differences in morphology and colouration. Our results support the previous notions that DNA barcoding can complement morphological identification and aid the discovery of cryptic species complexes.

Citation

Veijalainen A, Broad GR, Wahlberg N, Longino JT, Sääksjärvi IE (2011) DNA barcoding and morphology reveal two common species in one: Pimpla molesta stat. rev. separated from P. croceipes (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). ZooKeys 124: 59–70. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.124.1780

Type

Journal Article

Item Description

(C) 2011 Anu Veijalainen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article. For reference, use of the paginated PDF or printed version of this article is recommended.
NHM Repository

ISSN

1313-2989

EISSN

1313-2970