ANALYSIS OF PHYLOGENETIC STATUS OF DIFFERENT NEUROTHEMIS (ODONATA:LIBELLULIDAE) SPECIES  USING CYTOCHROME OXIDASE I GENE SEQUENCE

Jisha Krishnan; E. K.; Sebastian; C. D.

Volume : V, Issue : III, March - 2016

ANALYSIS OF PHYLOGENETIC STATUS OF DIFFERENT NEUROTHEMIS (ODONATA:LIBELLULIDAE) SPECIES USING CYTOCHROME OXIDASE I GENE SEQUENCE

Jisha Krishnan, E. K. , Sebastian, C. D.

Abstract :

For taxonomists Neurothemis is a confusing genus under Order Odonata, because of the morphological variants existing within the species.. Here we have analysed the phylogenetic relationships of three different species of Neurothemis by the partial sequencing of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Phylogenetic tree constructed by Neighbour joining method proved that Neurothemis tullia and Neurothemis intermedia are taxonomically more closer and they together formed a single clade in the tree. Neurothemis fulvia is sister to this clade but it represents the most diverged species in terms of anch lengh and nucleotide substitution. Comparison with the retrieved sequences confirmed that it strictly belong to Libellulidae family. The tree also depicted that Neurothemis genus is more close to Orthetrum sabina than Diplacodes trivalis. Hence the study concluded that DNA barcoding is an invaluable tool for confirming the species identification and to assess the proper phylogenetic relationships.