Meganck, K.,  Goergen, G.,  Backeljau, T.,  De Meyer, M. & Jordaens, K. 2017. ‘The use of DNA barcoding to improve the taxonomy of Afrotropical hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae)’. 2017 International Barcode of Life Conference, South Africa. Book of abstracts, 60. 951.

Conference abstract

Background: Currently, there are about 600 nominal morphospecies of Afrotropical hoverflies (Syrphidae) whose morphological identification is very difficult because of limited recent taxonomic revisions and the lack of comprehensive identification keys. A few years ago, we constructed a reference dataset of approximately 500 COI barcodes for almost 100 of the more common nominal species from West Africa. The results showed that DNA barcoding is a very helpful tool to identify these species and that it allowed to pinpoint those taxonomic groups that are in need of revision. We now have extended this reference barcode dataset (i) to get a broader coverage of this group and (ii) to cover a larger area of the Afrotropics. Results: The current reference database comprises almost 2,000 barcodes for almost half the known number of Afrotropical syrphid species. The identification accuracy of this dataset was evaluated with three methods (K2P distance-based, Neighbor-Joining (NJ) / Maximum Likelihood (ML) analysis, and using SpeciesIdentifier). The identification success estimated using the three methods was high (> 95%) and comparable to our previous study. Significance: DNA barcoding is a useful alternative identification tool for the Afrotropical Syrphidae. It also improves the taxonomy of Afrotropical hoverflies and these barcoding efforts have resulted in the start of taxonomic revisions of several of the Afrotropical syrphid genera. Moreover, several other research groups are adding barcodes to the dataset and this will speed-up taxonomic revisions even more.