Integrative Taxonomic Identification of Panulirus versicolor (Latreille, 1804) Through Morphological Analysis and COI Barcoding

The present study aimed to refine the taxonomy of Panulirus versicolor from Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, by integrating morphological and molecular approaches. Specimens were collected from local fish landing centers and identifiedmorphologically using 15 diagnostic traits recorded in a coding matrix. DNA barcoding was performed by amplifying and sequencing the mitochondrial COI gene, followed by phylogenetic analysis using Neighbor-Joining, Bayesian Inference, and BEAST methods. The morphological traits confirmed species identity, while molecular analysis revealed a low genetic divergence of 0.03 and a genetic distance of 0.71% from closely related species. Phylogenetic trees consistently clustered P. versicolorinto a monophyletic clade along with sequences from China, Palau, and Sri Lanka. The study confirms that combining morphological data with COI based barcoding is effective for accurate species identification and understanding genetic relationships in spiny lobsters.