LEVANTAMENTO DAS SEQUÊNCIAS COI DE ESPÉCIES DE MYRMELEON (NEUROPTERA) DEPOSITADOS EM BANCOS DE DADOS GENÉTICOS

Abstract

The genus Myrmeleon is the second largest in the family Myrmeleontidae, which is the largest in the order Neuroptera, with approximately 1,522 described species. Despite its wide distribution, the biology of Myrmeleon is poorly studied, making taxonomic identification challenging, especially given the lack of experts in the field. To address these challenges, DNA barcoding, which uses COI as a marker, has been adopted for more accurate species identification. For DNA barcoding to be effective, a barcode library is required for comparison. Currently, two data platforms are used for this purpose: Boldsystems (Barcode of Life Data Systems) and Genbank (Genetic Sequence Database). A search of the sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene region deposited in the databases was performed, collecting information on the accession number, species, collection site, sequence length, and publication of related works. A total of 391 records were found, more than half of which are simultaneously registered in both databases. However, only 24% of these data are published. The analysis revealed that 39 species have deposited sequences, representing 2.5% and countries such as Pakistan, Japan and the United States are those with the highest number of deposits for the trained group. The average size of exclusively COI sequences was close to the gene's base pair size. The study concludes that Myrmeleon is underrepresented in the databases; it is necessary to encourage more species deposits of the group, with an emphasis on publishing these data.