Publications

created on: 06.08.2018 | by: Matthias Geiger

As part of a cooperation of SNSB-ZSM with the legal medicine of LMU, the Bavarian State Office for Criminal Investigation and the Mendel University in Brno, a reference library with DNA barcodes for forensically relevant arthropods was created and the findings published in the Journal of Forensic Science.

created on: 12.03.2018 | by: Matthias Geiger

In a recently published article in the journal Zookeys, Hans Reip (Görlitz) and Thomas Wesener (Bonn) show new findings on the intraspecific genetic variation of the diplopod Glomeris marginata and discuss how it is distributed geographically in Europe. In addition, they incorporate the various color morphs of the species into their analyzes and show how all of them can be clearly assigned to the nominal species by means of DNA barcoding.

created on: 13.11.2017 | by: Matthias Geiger

In a recently published study resulting from GBOL phase I, a hitherto from Europe unknown rust fungus of the genus Coleosporium was detected in Germany and Switzerland on the giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea), an invasive neophyte from North America. The rust fungus was then also found on the indigenous European goldenrod S. virgaurea. For the identification, the authors used DNA barcodes from the German Barcode of Life project and an investigation of neomycetes in Switzerland.

created on: 24.08.2017 | by: Matthias Geiger

Nematodes are one of the most common groups of organisms on the planet and have a very high biodiversity. About 27,000 nematode species have been described so far, but the total number of species is estimated to be over 100,000. Nematodes are found in numerous habitats,
including in freshwater and marine sediments, in mosses, in foliage and soil. Typical freshwater and terrestrial samples usually contain between 30 and 100 species. Their determination is very difficult due to the small size and a paucity of diagnostic morphological features. The molecular data on nearly 600 individuals from 79 nematode species, published by Janina Schenk and colleagues, are an important step towards opening up this animal group for molecular species identification routines.

created on: 12.06.2017 | by: Matthias Geiger

Using DNA barcodes, scientists were able to prove the presence of the Stone Centipede Lamyctes africanus in Germany for the first time. The species was found in seven places in northern Germany. The authors suggest a further spread, particularly along railway tracks or by means of flowering plants or flowerpots.

created on: 08.06.2017 | by: Matthias Geiger

‘Rotten eggs’ in genetic fingerprints of species!? A new bioinformatics tool for cleaning DNA barcode data detects incorrect data sets rapidly and is provided free of charge. The tool TaxCI, developed by a German scientist team under the aegis of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig – Leibniz Institute for Biodiversity of Animals (ZFMK) in Bonn, reveals sources of error that are discovered during the validation of DNA barcodes. Now, potential deficiencies, for example caused by an incorrect  determination or by a contamination of a sample, can be detected quickly and reliably in huge DNA barcode data sets – even before the barcodes enter the databases used by researchers worldwide like BOLD and GenBank. The work was published in the renowned journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

created on: 11.05.2017 | by: Matthias Geiger

Another important contribution to the DNA barcode reference library was published in the Journal ‘Molecular Ecology Resources’ by Jérôme Morinière (GBOL Taxonomic coordinator in Munich at the Zoological State Collection) and colleagues from other institutes. They present the first DNA barcode data set for the so-called EPTs in Germany. Within the framework of the projects “Barcoding Fauna Bavarica” and GBOL, it was possible to generate and analyze DNA barcodes for two-thirds of the mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera) and caddisflies (Trichoptera). The 363 species are represented with 2613 individuals in the data set and are important indicators for the assessment of water quality. In the future they can now also be reliably detected by their DNA signatures in water.

created on: 19.12.2016 | by: Matthias Geiger

In an international team we evaluated the performance of DNA barcoding and the barcode reference library applied to large-scale Malaise trap samples from two German sites over the span of one summer. We conclude that such approaches help in providing crucial knowledge about insect biodiversity and its dynamics, as well as enable more efficient management of a habitat’s inventory. Our findings are published in the open access Biodiversity Data Journal.

created on: 22.11.2016 | by: Matthias Geiger

In a current publication in ‘Molecular Ecology Resources‘, colleagues from the DNA barcoding initiatives from Germany (GBOL & BFB), Austria (ABOL) and Switzerland (SWISSBOL) report on their findings in  Orthoptera. For 127 of the 162 species occurring in the three countries, DNA barcodes could be created and analyzed. In 76.2% of the species, a simple and definite determination is possible, but 26 species of Acrididae and Tetrigidae form mixed molecular units, which require a closer examination. Incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization are discussed as possible explanations. These natural phenomena are also known for many other evolutionary young species groups.

created on: 15.11.2016 | by: Matthias Geiger

In a recent publication in the very well-known journal Systematic Biology, an international team of scientists with the involvement of GBOL deals with the potential of species delineation using DNA barcodes for butterflies (Lepidoptera). Based on a very large COI data set of almost 5,000 species and more than 40,000 individuals, it became clear again that a reliable determination using DNA barcodes is possible and unambiguous for the vast majority of the European butterflies. The focus of the investigation, however, was on the so-called monophyla of the mitochondrial lineages, which is an advantage for a direct delimitation of species. Where this is not the case, experts have to find the right possibility under several explanations, for which purpose the publication provides a state of the art summary of the reasons.