Identification of Invasive Pest, Plautia corossota (Green stink bug) Using DNA Barcoding

Abstract

Plautia corossota, is a Heteropteran insect belonging to family Pentatomidae.  A polyphagous insect, commonly known as the green stink bug, or shield bug, considered as a pest, is frequently found in and around local vegetables market of Chennai. To learn about its biology and to precisely identify the exact species, a specimen was collected from local terrain of Chennai. This insect is cosmopolitan is distribution, and is a serious pest known to infest almost all of the vegetable, fruit   and commercial crops. No specific insecticide or effective pest management strategies are in place till date, probably due to obscure identification of pest species. This insect is polymorphous, and its identification simply based upon morphological features, may result in ambiguous, conclusions, and so a more scientific method, may be employed to ascertain its identity. Precise identification, of the insect pest is the key for developing pest management strategies, and so DNA barcoding was used for specific identification. The mitochondrial CoI was amplified using corresponding forward and reverse primers, and the query sequence was submitted to Genbank. (ID MF125272). Its relationship with other species of Pentatomidae, was ascertained, by constructing a Phylogenetic tree using the software MEGA, 5.2.   Bootstarp values, using 500 replicates, were found to be 99% match  with  species such as Nezaraviridula voucher, Plautia crossota isolate U4c, Plautia crossota voucher ROPletc; of other green stink bugs. Tajima neutrality test D value was found to be 1.3, suggesting that the selection of this stink bug (Plautia corossota) was balanced.