Morphological Variation and DNA Barcoding Identification of Acanthoscelides obtectus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae).

Abstract

Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say) is a serious invasive pest that attacks grains and legumes, especially Phaseolus vulgaris Linnaeus. It is widely distributed as a pest of P. vulgaris in many countries and in Egypt as well. This study applied an integrated approach that combined morphological and DNA barcoding identification of the species. The results yielded direct sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene and defined the morphological variation among individuals of A. obtectus. The resulting sequence of the COI gene was compared with the A. obtectus gene that was previously documented in GenBank.