Abstract:
Objective To identify the Kallitaxila sinica (Walker, 1851) (Hemiptera:Fulgoroidea:Tropiduchidae), a new insect pest of Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum) in Longli County, Guizhou, China, based on morphological and molecular data.
Method The morphological characteristics of adult, egg and fifth instar nymph of K. sinica were described and illustrated respectively. The COI sequences of K. sinica were obtained by PCR, the sequence composition and genetic distances were analyzed and the phylogenetic tree of four tropiduchid species based on neighbor-joining methods were constructed by MEGA 6.0 software, Tambinia bambusana, T. rubrolineate and T. menglunensis were chosen as outgroups.
Result The results show that COI sequences of ten sample of K. sinica are independent evolutionary branches. Intraspecific genetic distances of K. sinica is 0.000~0.065, and interspecific genetic distances of four tropiduchid species is 0.142~0.202; there is no overlapping in genetic distances between intraspecific and interspecific.
Conclusion COI gene fragment as DNA barcode, can be used to molecular identification of K. sinica. Damage symptoms and occurrence regularity of K. sinica were also introduced in this paper.