title: Singing from the grave: DNA from a 180 year old type specimen confirms the identity of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens).
abstract: Historically serving as repositories for morphologically-based taxonomic research, natural history collections are now increasingly being targeted in studies utilizing DNA data. The development of advanced molecular techniques has facilitated extraction of useable DNA from old specimens, including type material. Sequencing diagnostic molecular markers from type material enables accurate species designation, especially where modern taxonomic hypotheses confirm morphologically cryptic species complexes. One such example is Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens), which belongs to a complex of about 20 cryptic species, most of which can only be reliably distinguished by their pre-mating courtship songs or by DNA analysis. The subtle morphological variation in the group has led to disagreement over the previous designation of the lectotype for C. carnea, an issue that has been further compounded because Chrysoperla carnea is a highly valued biological control agent in arable crops. Archival DNA extraction and sequencing from the 180 year old lectotype specimen, combined with Bayesian and Likelihood based phylogenetic analyses of modern specimens from the entire complex, were used to establish unambiguously the true identity of Chrysoperla carnea.
authors: Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, England.
authors: Ben W
authors: BW
authors: Price
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America.
authors: Charles S
authors: CS
authors: Henry
authors: Core Research Laboratories, Natural History Museum, London, England.
authors: Andie C
authors: AC
authors: Hall
authors: National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Mochizuki
authors: WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Duelli
authors: Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, England.
authors: Stephen J
authors: SJ
authors: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics*; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D063346:Singing; D013045:Species Specificity; D013048:Specimen Handling
chemical_list: D004247:DNA