New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Rhopalosiphum aphids in New Zealand. II. DNA sequences reveal two incompletely described species

S. R. Bulman¹
M. A. W. Stufkens¹
V. F. Eastop²
D. A. J. Teulon^1,*

¹New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food
 Research Ltd
Private Bag 4704
Christchurch, New Zealand
²Department of Entomology
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 5BD, UK

Abstract  We applied DNA sequence analysis to Rhopalosiphum aphids, which we had previously characterised by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR. By comparing two gene sequences, we confirmed that Rhopalosiphum sp. T was a species previously undescribed from New Zealand. Significant differences were also observed between a DNA sequence from New Zealand R. near insertum and a European R. insertum sequence deposited in GenBank. The ribosomal ITS proved to be a more robust marker for aphid identification than suggested by previous studies, and intraspecies variation within the ribosomal ITS sequences appeared to be extremely low. Specific PCR primers based upon differences in the ITS sequence were used to rapidly distinguish R. padi from other Rhopalosiphum species found on New Zealand grain crops.

Keywords  aphid; Rhopalosiphum species; R. padi; lineages; GC-RICH

Z04022; Received 23 June 2004; accepted 13 November 2004; Online publication date 2 March 2005
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2005, Vol. 32: 37–45 0301–4223/05/3201–0037 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005

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