COI barcoding as a tool to improve parasitoid wasp taxonomy

Bethylidae and Dryinidae are families of parasitoid wasps that use many different species of herbivorous insects as hosts. The agricultural and ecological damage caused by their hosts, which include leafhoppers for dryinids and a variety of beetle and moth larvae for bethylids, makes these wasps valuable as potential biocontrols. However, both families are plagued by extreme sexual dimorphism - many species are described from only one sex as it is difficult to collect male and female conspecifics together. This incomplete taxonomic record makes future utilization of these wasps unlikely.

In this study, bethylid and dryinid specimens are provided by Discover Life in America (DLiA) from Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We will select specimens for DNA barcoding to be processed by the Canadian Centre for DNA barcoding. The COI barcoding sequences will then be used to generate phylogenetic trees of the specimens using Maximum Likelihood techniques. These trees will group conspecific males and females in monophyletic groups, allowing us to 1) update taxonomic records with the missing sex for previously described species, 2) describe new species with both sexes, and 3) test the validity of using COI barcoding as a conspecific matching tool for species with both sexes already described.